


A Study in Mega Evolution

by Tea_n_Tomatoes



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions
Genre: Canon - Anime, F/M, Fanfiction, Gen, OC X CANON, Pokemon - Freeform, Pokemon Anime - Freeform, Pokemon Fanfiction, Pokemon OC, pokemon oc x canon, pokemon x & y
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-07 16:10:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 42
Words: 63,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14084637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tea_n_Tomatoes/pseuds/Tea_n_Tomatoes
Summary: Corina is a sixteen year old girl from Lumiose City who has always dreamed of going on a journey of her own with her partner and finally seeing the world, but her father never let her leave the city, now she has to run away in order to start her journey.





	1. Leaving Home

**Author's Note:**

> This story is also on wattpad. My username is @Tea_n_Tomatoes. Most of my stories are on both platforms, but there may be some things that are on one account and not the other!

Corina was a smarter girl than most people gave her credit for. Smart enough to find a way to leave Lumiose City without her overprotective father knowing. Its not that he was a bad father, he was just trying to protect her since she was his only child, but she was the last of all her classmates to go on a journey.

It was early in the morning, just before sunrise when Corina finished packing her bag with the help of her Flaaffy named Eda, who was her trusted partner since she caught her as a mareep. She left the apartment that was over a small cafe that her father owned and she waitressed at. She was wearing her pink sweater, black high-waisted skirt, thigh-high white socks, and black boots with her pink raspberry colored hair neatly brushed and ending just below her shoulders. "Hey Corina! Here to open up?" Her fellow waiter, Alistair greeted "Shh! I'm finally getting out of here."

"Corina, you've tried this three times, and you always came back."

"Well this time I'm leaving! I'm stopping by the Professor and I'm gone."

"Alright, see you in a few hours." He said slightly annoyed. They had gone through this whole thing before, but Corina always came back because she was either scared or worried about her dad. She puffed her cheeks and stomped out of the cafe, Flaaffy waving a goodbye as she followed her trainer.

She arrived at the lab, having calmed down thanks to her partner's help. "Professor Sycamore? Are you here?" She called into the foyer of the lab. He walked out from the hallway and smiled when he saw her "Hello Corina, how are you? You're here early. "

"I'm okay. But today, I'm finally leaving for good!" He smiled even more "All right. And I assume your father isn't allowing this?" She hung her head in defeat "No, he doesn't. You'll vouch for me, wont you, Professor?"

"Yes, don't worry Corina." She knew the Professor quite well. Ever since she was little she was excited to help him in his lab since she was so interested in technology and helping Pokemon. Every time she left and came back she made the excuse that she had just been helping the professor in his lab, and he would always back her up. "Before you leave, I want your help with something." He left down the same hall he came from and Corina followed him, intrigued.

They walked into a room where a few machines that Corina recognized as the mega stone synchronizer that the professor used to identify what mega stone belonged to which pokemon. A tall boy was standing at the machine and looked over when they walked in and smiled. He was Corina's age and had long dark navy hair held back in a bun with some bangs hanging down in the front. His eyes were bright blue, just like the Professor's. "Corina! I thought you'd be opening the cafe by now.?" 

"I'm really going on my journey today." She replied to the boy. "Good. It's about time you head out on your journey." He said with a nod of the head. "Leon, do you mind going out and feeding the Pokemon?" the Professor asked and the boy smiled. "Sure thing, Dad." He walked out, giving Corina a thumbs up on the way out. "What do you need my help with?"

"I want you to stand by the computer and tell me when it starts synchronizing." She nodded and stood in front of the screen while Sycamore put each stone into place. One was a key stone, which she had seen all the time working with the professor, but the other was one she hadn't seen before. It was white with yellow and red designs in the middle. Corina watched the screen intently, waiting for the results of the tests to come in. "So Corina," The professor began and she looked over at him, "You are really gonna leave this time?"

"Yes sir. I know I haven't always stayed true to my word on this, but I know that this will be the best thing for me and Eda, right?" She smiled at her partner, and she smiled back, walking over to the mega stone and looking at it intently. "I think so too. Will you compete in the league?"

"No. I don't think so. I just want to see the rest of Kalos, and learn as much as I can!"

"You're a smart girl, Corina, I know you'll be just fine. You and Eda have grown quite close since you caught her in between Shalour City and Coumarine City."

"Thank you, professor." She was distracted when a beeping came from the computer, telling her that the results were in. "It's reacting!" The two lines on the monitor merged into one, telling her that it was a genuine mega stone. Sycamore just smiled to himself "I thought so." He opened the machine and took out the two stones and set them in a box, then turned back to her. "Corina, I need you to run an errand for me."

"What kind of errand? I should be leaving Lumiose City soon."

"This one is outside of the city don't worry. Right outside the city on route thirteen." He handed her a map, "There's an ancient cave there and I need you to retrieve something there for me and bring it back."

"Okay, what is it?"

"It's a mega stone. I need it for my research. You'll go, won't you?" She smiled and took the map from his hands "Sure thing, professor! We won't let you down!" She put the map in her bag and ran out of the lab, Flaaffy trying to keep pace with her.

She stood at the gate leading out to route 13. This was where she left Lumiose City to officially start her journey. "Ready Eda?"

"Flaaa."

"All right, then let's go!" She walked out of the gates and exited into a desert wasteland.

Back at the lab Sycamore took the box with the key stone and mega stone in it and picked up the phone and called the local jeweler "Hey Professor, how can I help you this morning?"

"I need two more accessories."

"I see. What for?"

"I need a necklace and something for an ampharos by tomorrow-if possible."

"All right, send over the stones and I'll get right on it." He hung up and his son, Leon walked back into the room. "Leo, there you are. Do you mind running these down to the jeweler on Vernal Avenue and pick them up tomorrow?"

"Sure thing, Dad." He handed the box over to his son, then put his hands in his pockets and walked over to the window to observe all the pokemon. "Do you really think she'll go this time?" Leo asked, "I do."

"This won't be another Alain situation, will it, dad?" the boy's tone deflated a bit, showing his worry. At the mention of his old assistant Sycamore's shoulders sagged a bit "I hope not, Leon." He heard him walk out and he hung his head a bit "I hope not..."


	2. Searching the Caverns

She and Eda were walking around the brown, dusty expanse for hours looking for the place the professor had circled on the map. "Sycamore is not very good with directions, is he Eda?"

"Flaaa.." She replied, looking around. "Fla! Flaaffy!" She pointed off to a large cave, then pointed back to the map where Professor Sycamore circled a cave. "That's gotta be it! Great job Eda!" Corina rubbed the wool on the Flaaffy's head and returned her to her pokeball. "I think it'll be easier on my own in there, thanks girl." 

As she walked closer to the cave she saw that it looked like it used to be more like an ancient building inside the cave, rather than a natural creation. There were intricate designs and symbols above and around the entrance and broken pillars were half covered in sand all around. She walked in and the only sound was her footsteps and the rare sound of scuttling of a dugtrio or a trapinch. The air in there was thick and musty, like no one had been in there in ages, but as she looked around at the pillars and symbols all along the walls she liked to imagine what it could have been like when there were still people here. "I wonder where that mega stone could be... He's never sent me out like this before.." She wondered out loud to herself. But just then she stepped on a strange tile that shifted under her weight, and suddenly the next thing she knew she was plummeting through the floor. 

She hit the floor hard and everything hurt instantly. But when she opened her eyes to try and see where she was, all she saw was dark except for the little light coming through the hole she had fallen through. "What happened?" She groaned as she rubbed her right leg where a sharp pain was coursing through, she must've twisted it. "Eda, come on out." She released her partner from her pokeball, and instantly she was looking at Corina with worry in her dark eyes. "Flaa?"

"I'll be fine, Eda." The blue sphere on the end of her tail lit up and illuminated the room. It was another hall, just like the one above. "Let's be careful, we don't know if there is more loose flooring down here." 

"Flaa." Corina tried to stand up, but the pain got worse in her right leg and she fell back down. "Ahh!" She hissed through her teeth and the Flaaffy put her arms on her trainer "I-I'm okay." 

"Flaa.." Corina smiled, trying to convince her partner that she was okay. Corina stood up, putting most of her weight on her left leg rather than her right. Eda supported her on her wounded side as they limped/walked though the cave, being careful of more weak flooring. They wandered around for a while until they came to a wall blocking their way. "Great, and there were no other halls down here. We're trapped." Corina slumped down to the floor, thankful to be off her twisted ankle. "Flaaa." Her partner tried to persuade her to get back up "I can't do it, Eda. And there's probably no way to contact anyone for help. Maybe in a few days when Sycamore notices I'm not back he'll send for help." 

"Flaaffy! Flaaaa!" 

"I can't go on anymore, Eda! My leg hurts and we're trapped down here." Corina put her hands to her eyes as she started to cry. Eda hugged her trainer tightly, trying to sooth her. "I'm so sorry I got us into this mess, Eda. Maybe Dad is right, I can't make it on my journey, can I. " She wept into her friend's wool. Her partner stepped back and Corina took her hands away from her eyes as her friend began to glow brighter. Her partner was glowing all white and changing shape. The soft wool disappeared and she grew about two feet, she got more black stripes and the horns on her head grew a bit longer and more detached from her head. The glowing finally stopped and Corina smiled wider than ever, "You evolved into an Ampharos!" She leaped forward, forgetting about the pain in her leg and hugged her partner tightly. "I love you so much, Eda. You're the best partner ever." 

"Aaaamm!" She stepped back from Corina and her fist glowed white and she thrust it against the wall in front of them and it crumbled down. "And you used rock smash!" She smiled back at her trainer as they hugged once again. They separated and Corina looked beyond where the wall had been and saw a shiny tan rock stuck inside the wall. "That must be it." With Eda's help she walked up to the stone and saw that it had a design in the middle that looked like all the others she'd seen in mega stones. Careful not to damage it she took it out of the wall and placed it in her side bag. "Maybe we should spend the night on the top level, Eda. It's too late to try and figure out how to get back to Lumiose City." 

"Aamm." She agreed and Eda helped Corina get up the old, crumbly stairs to get to the top floor and find a good place to spend the night.


	3. Back to Lumiose City

Corina and Eda woke up the next morning in the old cavern where she found the mega stone the previous night. They made their way through the desert, Eda helping Corina on her wounded leg. 

Finally they re-entered the city and Eda started heading to the Pokemon Center, "Eda, we need to see the Professor first."

"Amm?" 

"We promised we'd get him this stone, we can go to the Pokemon Center after this." Eda looked down at Corina's swelling ankle and started pushing her to the center. "Hey! Eda! What are you doing? We have to go see the Professor!" Corina tried to get away from her partner, but there wasn't much she could do without her support. 

Corina sat on the bed in the Pokemon Center pouting. Her right ankle was bandaged and Nurse Joy told her that she needed rest, and scolded her a bit about staying out in the desert, even though she was hurt. She was just sitting there hoping that her dad wouldn't find out she was here and come get her and bring her home. She already had about ten missed calls from him. She had left a note for him, telling him that she was leaving for her journey and all that, but he wasn't going to let her go without reprimanding her heavily. 

She was snapped out of her thoughts when the door to her room opened and Sycamore and Leon walked in with Eda behind him. "Corina! Are you okay? Eda came and got us from my lab. What happened?" His gray eyes filled with worry. "I'm fine, Professor." She reached into her bag and put the mega stone in his hands. "I found what you wanted me to get." he stared at it for a while and put it in his pocket. "How did this happen?" Leon asked. "I was walking into the cave and the ground beneath me gave way and I fell. But I promise I'm okay, you two. I had Eda there to help me."

"That's good I suppose. I do want to congratulate you both on that evolution." 

"Thanks, Professor! What kind of mega stone is it?" 

"I'm not sure yet." She smiled "Let me know when you are! I can't wait to see what it is!" he laughed a bit "You're boundless curiosity is a wonder to me, Corina." 

"Professor, my dad doesn't know I'm here, does he?" 

"No. He doesn't, but you should call him and let him know what happened." She looked to the side and crossed her arms "I know that you don't want to talk to your dad, Corina, but you should at least try."

"After I leave Lumiose again, then I'll call him." 

"Well, come visit me before you leave again." 

"Sure thing!" He smiled a little, "Be careful, Corina, and don't forget to call." Leon said and walked out of the room with his father as Eda started playfully nuzzling Corina's cheek and she started laughing and playfully pushing the Ampharos away. 

A week passed and Nurse Joy finally cleared Corina to be released, and during her whole time at the center her dad wouldn't stop calling her. She had thought about going to see him, but quickly dismissed the thought, knowing exactly how it would end. She walked into the Pokemon lab "Professor Sycamore?" She called and he stepped out "Hello again, Corina. How are you feeling?"

"Much better. Ready to hit the road." 

"Well, just remember to take it easy. Anyway, I want to give you and Eda a going away present." She and Eda exchanged an excited look before quickly following Sycamore down the hallway to his office. He held out a box that looked expensive and nicely decorated. She opened it up and inside was a choker necklace with a black silky band with a key stone as the pendant. The other one was a low hanging necklace with a silver chain and a pendant with the same mega stone that she analyzed a while ago. "Professor.." She gasped, she could hardly believe that Sycamore would give her such rare stones as a gift. "A key stone for you, and an Ampharosite for your partner. As a token of my gratitude for helping me so much." 

"Professor Sycamore, I...I hardly know what to say other than thank you!" She put the key stone around her neck, and it fit perfectly. Then she grabbed the other one and put it around her partner. "And you two have had the bond it takes to mega evolve for a long time, there's no way you won't be able to mega evolve now that you both have the stones." 

"Thank you so much, Professor!" She squealed and hugged him tightly, he was surprised at first, then laughed and hugged back. "This is the best gift ever!" 

"Haha, I'm glad you like it. Use it wisely." 

"Will do, professor!" She let go and hugged Ampharos tightly, "We can mega evolve now, Ampharos!"

"AAAmmmm!" She squealed back, excited as well. "Well, you two should be going, there's a lot to see out there." The two partners stopped hugging and Eda started heading out the door "Bye professor! Thanks so much! I'll be sure to call you with any updates!" He waved goodbye "I look forward to it." She grinned from ear to ear and walked backwards out the door, practically tripping over Eda's tail on the way.


	4. Daddy Issues

It's been a week since Corina officially left on her journey and she was spending the night in Camphrier Town with Eda. She was heading out for a walk when a young man-looking to be in his twenties-walked out in front of them. He had short blond hair and bright blue eyes and wore a typical bug-catcher's uniform. "Is that a key stone on your neck?" He asked her "It is."

"Well then, how would you like a mega battle! Yours against mine!" He held out his bug-catcher net, which had a key stone on the head. Corina smiled confidently "You're on!"

They stood across from each other on the battlefield in the park and her opponent started announcing the rules "This will be a one-on-one battle between two mega evolve-able pokemon! Sound good?"

"Sounds great!"

"All right! Then here comes my partner! Go Beedrill!" He released his Beedrill and it looked pumped to be in battle, and had a mega stone in a wrist band. "All right, Eda! Let's go!"

"Beedrill! Let's do it! Mega evolve!" He held out his net and beams of yellow light connected them and Beedrill began to change shape. It became more intimidating and it's features more defined. It's bottom half grew longer and pointed while it's hind legs turned into a second pair of stingers. The glowing finally stopped and it was her turn, "Eda! Listen to my heart! Mega evolve!" Corina touched two fingers to her necklace and the yellow beams connected them as well. Her partner's horns changed shape and grew curlier and she grew flowing hair-like wool on her head and over her tail, with gems in it that resembled the one on her forehead. The glowing stopped and the Ampharos looked more pumped than ever "This is out first time mega evolving! So let's make it count!"

"Amm!"

"Beedrill! Start this off with pin missile!"

"Thunderbolt!" the two moves collided, creating a cloud of smoke. "Now! Use Agility!" Eda's speed increased "Beedrill! Use Poison Jab!" The move hit and Eda was poisoned. "Eda, no! Hang in there, girl!"

"Aaaamm.."

"Let's end this soon! Use Thunderbolt!"

"Dodge it!" The Beedrill moved out of the way at the last minute "Use x-scizzor!" Mega Beedrill thrust it's stingers at Eda and hit her. "Hang in there! Use Dragon Pulse!" Eda shot a dragon-shaped beam of light at Beedrill and hit it dead-on. "Atta' girl! Now use Charge Beam!" the Mega Ampharos' body started sparking with electricity before she shot a powerful beam at Beedrill. Once the smoke cleared Beedrill was still hovering above the ground "What? It's still going?"

"Don't underestimate my Beedrill! Finish this with x-scizzor!" Beedrill launched it's self fast at Eda, and she flew back from impact. "Eda!" She lay on the ground and the mega evolution wore off, sending her back into her normal form. Corina ran out to her partner's side as her eyes were opening "You did a great job, Eda. Thank you."

"Ammm..." She returned her to her pokeball and stood up before walking up to her opponent. "That was a great battle. I really thought I had you there."

"You did a great job too. My name is Hudson by the way."

"My name's Corina."

"Well, I hope we meet again, Corina."

"Me too." He walked off and she headed back to the pokemon center to heal her Ampharos.

After what seemed like forever of waiting Nurse Joy called her and gave Corina back her partner's Pokeball. On the way outside she released her partner to get some fresh air. "He was a really strong trainer, wasn't he?"

"Ammpharos! Amm!"

"I look forward to battling him again." Her partner was just about to reply when Corina's phone started ringing, she looked at the caller and saw it was her father again. "I can't talk to him now.."

"Amm."

"I know that I have to call him soon, I just don't feel like it right now."

"Ampharos am."

"Hey, don't take that tone with me, I'll call him, just, later." Eda rolled her eyes and reached over, clicking "answer call" on her phone "Eda!" her father's face appeared on the screen. He was a tall, burly man with short burgundy hair and dark green eyes. "Corina!" She flinched "Hi Dad..."

"Where are you!?"

"Camphrier Town." she said quietly, "You are coming home right now, young lady! What are you thinking? Running away from home like this!"

"I want to go on a journey, Dad!"

"We've talked about this, Corina, you can't go on your journey!"

"So what? Am I just supposed to stay in Lumiose City for the rest of my life? Cooped up in some waitress job? I want to explore Kalos, Dad! I want to learn new things and find out what I wanna do!" he sighed exasperated. He really was a great father, he just worried about her too much that it inhibited her freedom. "Corina, please come home."

"No."

"What?"

"No! I'm not coming home! I'm finally seeing Kalos with Eda, and I'm not coming home!"

"You've already gotten hurt once, Professor Sycamore told me about what happened to you on route thirteen! What if you get hurt again?"

"I can handle myself, Dad. And I have Eda here with me! And a key stone! I'm finally following my dream! Now, I have to go."

"Corina don't you hang up on-" She slammed her finger down on the "end call" button before he could finish talking. After she put her phone away she glared at Eda "Not cool."

"Am." She crossed her arms, Corina knew her partner was right, she just didn't want to let her know that. She sighed "I'm going on my walk, you're going back in your Pokeball." She returned her friend and continued walking around the park until she reached the edge of the city.


	5. Mega Mawile

Corina had been on her journey for a little over a month now, going from city to city and meeting all kinds of people and pokemon. Many mega evolution trainers challenged her to battles when they noticed she had a key stone around her neck. She went around the whole region studying different information on mega evolution for the professor. 

Corina walked up to the Laverre City Gym per request from professor Sycamore to ask Valerie about her mawile, and it's mega stone. She walked in and headed straight to the front desk. "Hi. I'm Corina, I have an appointment on behalf of Professor Sycamore." 

"Oh yes! She's been expecting you, go on in. Her office is right there." The woman behind the desk pointed to a nicely decorated door on the other side of the room. Corina nodded and headed over there and knocked once before entering. "Valerie?" 

"That's me. You must be Corina." She spoke in a soft and gentle voice, that somehow made Corina feel calm. "Yes, Professor Sycamore wanted to see the Mawilite you found and see if it was genuine." Valerie opened a hidden safe in her desk and handed the stone to Corina. It had a pale pink base with a yellow and black design in the middle. She brushed her hair back over her shoulder, then held the stone closer to her key stone, and both of them began glowing lightly. "No doubt about it." She handed the mega stone back to Valerie "That's a genuine Mawilite." 

"You have a key stone as well?"

"A gift from the Professor." She looked at the ribbon on Valerie's neck and saw there was a key stone there. "Would you like to have a mega battle?" Corina asked "My Ampharos against your Mawile?" 

"I'm not one to usually turn down a challenge." Valerie smiled lightly

They stood across from each other on the battlefield. "This will be a one-on-one battle between two mega evolved pokemon! Will both trainers release their pokemon." 

"Eda! I chose you!" 

"Go Mawile." 

"Eda! Let's jump right on in! Listen to my heart, mega evolve!" Eda began to change shape, and turned into Mega Ampharos. "Let's go too, Mawile, mega evolve!" Mawile grew another mouth on the back of her head, and gained dark pink accents. "Cool.." Corina breathed. "Eda, use agility!" 

"Mawile, you use Iron defense." 

"Eda! Thunder bolt!" the Ampharos shot electricity out and struck Mawile "My, what a powerful electric type move. Use feint attack!" Mawile ran right up to Eda, then seemingly disappeared before striking her from behind "Eda!" 

"Now use crunch and throw them!" Mawile clamped Eda's leg in it's jaw and threw her hard into the ground. "Eda, no! Use charge beam!" Eda generated a lot of electricity and shot it straight at Mawile. "Be careful of Mawile's jaws, Eda!" Corina called to her partner, and they nodded, understanding. "Mawile, use flamethrower!" Mawile shot hot flames out at Eda "Dodge it!" Eda tried to jump out of the way, but she was too slow and was struck by the flames. Although it didn't do a whole lot of damage, it still hurt her considerably. "Hang in there, Eda!" Corina could feel her heart beating faster and faster as she tried to think of a strategy that could get her and Eda out of this slump. There was flash cannon, thunderbolt, dragon pulse and agility. Valerie and Mawile's style seemed to be using the unique skills of the pokemon themselves to their advantage rather than just powerful attacks alone. It was a good thing Mawile didn't know any fairy type moves, or else they'd be toast from a super effective move. Wait! That's it!

"Mawile, use crunch!" 

"Eda, brace yourself!" Eda braced herself for the crunch, and when Mawile had one of it's jaws clamped down on Eda is when they made their move "Eda! Use Thunderbolt!" This way, there was no chance of them avoiding the move, and electricity coursed out of Eda and into Mawile. She was released and Mawile fell down, their mega evolution wearing off and they turned back to normal. "Mawile is unable to battle! Eda and Corina win the battle." Valerie walked over to her pokemon and whispered words of praise before returning her to her Pokeball. Corina ran over and threw her arms around Eda "We did it, Eda! We won!" 

"Am! Ampharoooss!" 

"You two gave us a very good battle. You used my own strategy against me, you've certainly deserved that key stone." Valerie praised them as Eda turned back to normal. "Thanks Valerie!" 

"I believe you wanted to send this back to the professor?" Valerie handed Corina the Mawilite. "Thank you! He'll have this back to you as soon as possible." Valerie nodded and Corina turned and ran out of the gym after returning Ampharos to her pokeball. 

Back in Lumiose City Corina finally arrived at Sycamore's lab where he was waiting for her. "Corina, you've arrived. I was worried you'd gotten lost." 

"No, I'm here." Corina panted, out of breath. She had run all the way back since she saw the city from the hill. "Do you have the Mawilite?" 

"Right here." She reached into her bag and handed him the stone. "Wonderful. Thank you." 

"Not a problem professor, although I had a bit of trouble getting it for you."

"You did? Did Valerie not want to give it to you?" 

"No. I just had to have a mega battle with her before I could get it." He chuckled a bit "I see. Did you win?"

"I did." She smiled and puffed her chest proudly. "Congratulations, she's a very difficult gym leader to defeat."

"You're telling me." They walked together to the main lab, "So, what did mega mawile look like?" Leon asked, looking excitedly at the mega stone. "It grows another pair of jaws from it's head. It looks more rugged and intimidating. It gains dark pink accents on it's arms and legs and it grows about a foot when it evolves."

"Really! Man, I wish I could've been there to see it too. It sounds so cool." Leo smiled. "Corina, I have a request for you."

"Yes?"

"There have been several reports of mega evolution happening in Hoenn, and since Professor Birch doesn't know as much about Mega Evolution as we do, I'd like to send you to Hoenn to collect what he's gathered over there. Normally, Leon and I would go ourselves, but it's trainer beginning season and there'll be many new trainers coming and going." 

"You're sending me to Hoenn!?" She could hardly believe her ears, she had never been to a region other than Kalos before. He chuckled a bit. "Yes, I've already made arrangements for you to leave day after tomorrow. Is that all right?" 

"U-Uhm, yeah! I've just never been outside of Kalos before! What am I going to pack? What's the climate like there? What are the Pokemon like? Will there be-" She was cut off when Sycamore placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. He made a motion for her to take a deep breath "You'll be just fine." 

"Thank you Professor, I'll get ready right away!" He handed her her plane ticket "Send me a postcard, huh?" Leon requested and she nodded and she ran out of the lab, eager to start her trip to the Hoenn region.


	6. A Trip to Hoenn

After what felt like forever the plane finally touched down in Littleroot Town. A city by the ocean in Hoenn. From what Corina could see out the window of the plane, Hoenn was a beautiful region, with a large volcano right near the middle and totally surrounded by the ocean. She got off and right away looked at the map to see where this lab was supposed to be, "Looking for something?" Someone asked her, she looked up from her map and saw a dark haired boy with bright blue eyes. He had freckles dotting his skin everywhere and wore a pair of wide black glasses. "Um, yes. I'm looking for Professor Birch's lab. Can you tell me where to find it?" 

"Oh sure! Are you a new trainer or something?" he asked as he started leading her through the city, "No, no. I'm here on behalf of Professor Sycamore to meet with Professor Birch." 

"So you're from Kalos?" He asked and she nodded "I'm Professor Sycamore's assistant." 

"Cool! I'm going on my journey in Hoenn right now challenging all the gyms." 

"Really? That's so cool! Oh! I never introduced myself, I'm Corina."

"I'm Calvin, I am originally from here in Littleroot, I'm just here visiting my parents who live here." 

"So, you've been all through Hoenn? How many badges do you have?" 

"Six." She raised her eyebrows and smiled "Six really? That's amazing!" He smiled wide, showing off a crooked canine tooth "Thanks! Anyway, here we are. This is the lab." 

"See ya, Calvin!" He waved over his shoulder, without turning around and Corina walked into the lab.

It was similar to Sycamore's in a few ways, but it looked much more like a scientific lab, and less cozy than the one she was used to back in Lumiose. One of the scientists stopped and looked over at her "Hello, can I help you, miss?"

"Yes. I'm looking for professor Birch. Do you know where he is?" 

"Yes. He's over there." The scientist pointed to a tall, heavy built man with short brown hair and wearing a white lab coat, navy blue shirt and khaki shorts who was observing some data on a large computer screen. Corina made her way over to him, and he looked over at her. "Professor Birch?"

"That'd be me! What can I help you with?" 

"I'm Corina, I'm here for Professor Sycamore in Kalos. He heard you have some exciting data on mega evolution." He smiled widely "Ahh yes! Ol' fancy pants told me you'd be coming!" She laughed slightly at his nick-name for Professor Sycamore. "Why don't you come into my office, that's where I have all the data." He walked into a door labeled with his name and Corina followed in behind. "So there have been reports of several more Pokemon from Hoenn able to mega evolve that weren't previously discovered. Such as Salamence, Pidgeot, Sharpedo, and Camerupt to name a few." 

"Really?" 

"Yes, and it turns out the three starter pokemon I hand out to beginning trainers also have mega evolutions: Blazakin, Marshtomp, and Sceptile." 

"All of those pokemon! These are amazing discoveries, I wonder if this is happening in other regions as well."

"While you were here, I needed your help finding some mega stones in Meteor Falls." 

"What kind of mega stones?" 

"Well, I've heard that there is a salamencite somewhere in the cave. I've heard that you're quite good at finding them." She smiled sheepishly "Thank you! But isn't Meteor Falls a ways away? Are we going to fly there." 

"Yes, there's a helicopter waiting to take us there now."

The two made their way to the roof and settled into the helicopter. It didn't take very long to get to the falls.

They landed at the entrance to the falls and were dropped off. "Any idea where this mega stone is?" 

"Somewhere in the second layer of the cave. Are you ready to go in?" 

"Yeah, let's go!" They entered the cave, and it was absolutely beautiful. The falls caused a great noise, and made everything feel a bit misty, but Corina couldn't help but stare in awe at the seemingly glowing terquoise water around her. "Wow! This is even more beautiful than in pictures!" 

"I'm glad you like it here. Now, we may need the assistance of your key stone in case it starts reacting to that Salamencite." 

"Right." She gently touched her key stone subconciously. "How did you get that anyway?" 

"My key stone? It was a gift from Professor Sycamore. I got it from him before I set out on my journey."

"You got your key stone when you were ten?" she laughed a bit and shook her head. "No, no. I didn't set off until a month or so after my sixteenth birthday."

"I see. And you know the professor well?"

"Yes, I met him and his son when I was nine and started helping around the lab."

"You've been his assistant for seven years?" Corina thought about it for a moment, the math was correct, but the years have gone by so fast that it didn't really feel like she'd been there for seven whole years. "I guess I have." She chuckled as they came upon a ladder leading down to a lower level in the cave. She went down first, then Birch followed slowly. "Do you have any idea what level it's on?" 

"Well, not exactly, but it's on one of these two levels somewhere." 

"Maybe it'll be best if we each split up, that way we can cover more ground?" He nodded and smiled "I'll head off to the left, you can go off to the right. Use this walkie-talkie to contact me if you need to." He handed her the device and walked off, leaving Corina to go her own way. 

It wasn't long after they separated that she heard yelling from who sounded like Professor Birch. "Professor Birch!?" She rushed over to where she heard the screaming and saw him being pestered by some swablu. "Corina! Thank goodness! Can you help me out here?" He called to her and she released her partner from her pokeball. "Go Eda! Use Thunderbolt!" 

"Ammmphaaa!" She shot electricity at them all and all but one of them ran away. He was weakened, but still looked determined to fight. "I like your spirit, lil' guy! Go pokeball!" she threw a pokeball at the Swablu and it sucked him inside. Landing on the ground it rolled once, twice, then a third time before making a signature clicking sound. "Yay!" Excitedly, she picked up the pokeball and gazed at it. "Hey little one! You're gonna come on my journey with me!" The pokeball shook in her hand and she could feel happiness radiating from inside. She released him and he looked up at her. He was still a little scratched, but he was smiling up at her. "I'm gonna name you Hermes, okay?" 

"Swaaaa!" He flapped his cloud like wings and perched himself on her shoulder. "Maybe we should head back to Littleroot. Before any more pokemon attack me." Corina nodded and returned her two pokemon before following Professor Birch back outside and onto the helicopter. 

The next morning, she was heading out of the Pokemon Center, but was stopped by Professor Birch waiting for her in the lobby. Is there anything I can do for you, sir? You know my plane back to Kalos leaves soon, don't you?" 

"Yes, I know. I wanted to give you a parting gift before you left." 

"Really?" 

"Yes." He reached into his bag and pulled out three pokeballs and released each of them. She recognized them as the three starter pokemon that trainers receive in Hoenn: Mudkip, Treecko, and Torchic. "Are you sure about this, sir? I couldn't accept one of these pokemon!" 

"I insist." 

She examined each of the three pokemon carefully, and picked up the grass type Treecko. Something about his bold nature interested her. "I choose this one." He returned the other two pokemon "Be careful with this one, I've had two trainers return him already." She looked up at him. "Return him? Why?" 

"Well, This one is very bold and arrogant. Trainers have a hard time controlling him. He wanders off, picks fights with other pokemon and lets himself out of his pokeball quite a bit." 

"Hmm..." She looked down at the Treecko and he looked back up at her, she could see in his bright yellow eyes that he wanted to go with her. "I'm gonna call you Arbor, how does that sound?" He smiled widely "Treeeck!! Treecko!" 

"Thank you, Professor Birch. I'll take good care of Arbor."

"I know you will." She glanced behind him at the TV moniter and saw a caption of the news. It was showing something that happened last night in Lumiose City. Clips of a Garchomp bursting out of Sycamore's lab and going on a rampage. It stood on Prism Tower and a boy was there comforting it. "What happened!?" She rushed over to the monitor and Birch walked up behind her. "Last night a Garchomp went on a rampage in Lumiose. A boy followed it up onto Prism Tower, and then jumped off of it after his pikachu that fell. Luckily he was saved by a masked hero and his Mega Blazakin." She realized that was the Professor's Garchomp and panic flickered inside her. "I have to go right now! Goodbye Professor Birch! Thank you so much!" She returned Arbor and ran out of the building as fast as she could, not waiting for a reply. 

She had to get back to Lumiose City as fast as possible.


	7. Back Home

Corina rushed back to the professor's lab. Right when she got off the plane she wasted no time getting to her destination. When she got there she slowed down and gazed in awe up at the large gaping hole above the doorway. Two men were sweeping the broken stone, brick, and glass out of the way of the doors and Corina ran right past them, bursting through the doors and seeing the condition of the front entry way. There was shattered glass covering the foyer and people sweeping it into dust pans. The rug was torn in more than several places. "What happened here?" She murmured to herself as she walked past the working cleaning up. "Professor Sycamore!? Leon!?" She called out, only just now regaining her breath from the run over here. "Professor Syca-!" She was cut off by someone walking out to the foyer "Corina?"

"Professor!" She ran over to him, looking up at his gray-blue eyes with worry "What happened? Is everyone okay? Where is Garchomp? What happened to her? Is she okay?"

"Whoa, whoa, Corina, slow down. Take a deep breath!" He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Everyone is just fine. I thought you were staying in Hoenn until tomorrow?"

"We didn't find the mega stone, so I came back today. I rushed back as quick as I could when I saw what happened on the news."

"I can tell." He commented on her out-of-breath-ness and placed a hand on her back, "Come, this way. She's been excited to see you." She was led outside to the pokemon habitat and saw Garchomp sitting there with Leon all the other pokemon. "Garchomp!" She looked up at Corina and smiled "Gaaarrrr!" Corina rushed over to her and threw her arms around the Mach pokemon. "Gaaaarrrrchomp!" She was excited to see Corina. The girl laughed as Garchomp nuzzled her head. "I'm glad you're okay, Garchomp! I've missed you!"

"GAAAAARRR!!" 

"She missed you too, Corina!" Leon smiled and laughed. She let go of her friend and turned to the Professor "So, what exactly happened?"

"A group called Team Rocket tried to control Garchomp with a collar." He began and stepped up to his pokemon, rubbing her face gently. "The device malfunctioned and she started attacking everything, she wouldn't even listen to me. She ended up on the top of Prism Tower and a boy from Kanto who was starting his journey here in Kalos went up after her to try and calm her down. Did you see everything on the news?" She nodded "I saw him jump off of Prism Tower! Good thing a Mega Blazakin was there to save him!"

"Yes, it's rather interesting, huh? That boy left only this morning, taking Froakie with him." Corina raised her eyebrows in interest "Froakie? Really?" The professor nodded "Froakie wanted to go with Ash-that's his name-even going so far as to open Ash's pokeball on his own." Corina smiled "I'm glad Froakie was able to finally find a trainer after all this time." 

"I am too. It's too bad you had to miss Ash and his friends, you would've gotten along." 

"I bet, he sounds like a good trainer, jumping off that building without another thought for his pikachu." 

"I'm sure you'll be able to meet him sometime, Corina." The professor smiled at her. Then walked back into the lab, Corina close behind. 

"I got an earful from your father the other day." The girl sighed. "I'm sorry, professor." 

"He was blaming me for telling you to leave home." He chuckled "To be fair, i did tell you it would be a good idea to leave." 

"Still, I've had this conversation with him countless times. I'm sorry, Professor, I'll just go home-"

"Is that what you want?" He asked, "Well, no, but-"

"Then don't go home." 

"But Professor-" he put a hand on her shoulder, "Corina, you're too smart of a girl to be cooped up in this city forever. You deserve to go out and see the world! Learn new things! Make a difference! You can go out and be your own person, don't let your father dictate what you're allowed and not allowed to do." There was a fire behind his gray eyes that Corina's couldn't quite describe. She simply nodded with determination. "Yes sir." He smiled as well, putting his hands in the pockets of his lab coat. "I expect to see you at my trainer summer camp in a week?" Corina nodded "I wouldn't miss it!" 

"Anyway, you should get going, you have a journey to continue." He smiled and walked back to the lab. "Bye Professor!" She waved to him as Leon walked out of the Pokemon habitat. "Have you seen him?" Leon asked quietly so his father wouldn't hear. Corina frowned a little. "No. I've asked gym leaders, and they say they've seen him, but I haven't gotten much." Leon sighed. "Still no word?" Corina asked and Leo shook his head. "I wish I knew what happened." 

"Me too, Leon. I just hope he's okay." 

"Let me know if you hear from him, then." Corina requested and her friend nodded. "I just wish Dad would try to call him again, I think he's given up." 

"We can't stop trying, I'm worried about him. I just don't understand why Alain would stop talking to us." 

"I don't know, Corina. Anyway, you should get going." She nodded and left the pokemon lab.


	8. The Battle Chateau

Corina walked along the beautiful riverside path past the pokemon daycare center, and began to approach a large stone building that she knew as the battle chateau. She had only heard of this place from trainers that would come to her father's cafe, but could never have dreamed of walking up these steps herself. The building was absolutely gorgeous, with an ornate interior to match as well. It was almost like stepping into the past. Corina was given a tip to dress up a little nicer so she wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb amongst all the other trainers inside. So instead of her usual outfit, Corina was wearing a short, pink, collared sleeveless top with a black high waisted, and tight fitting skirt that went to just above her knees and a pair of black heeled shoes. 

"Hello, and welcome to the battle chateau." A maid with light brown hair tied in a neat bun greeted her with a warm voice. Corina bowed slightly in return. "Hello, I've come here to have my very first battle at the chateau." 

"Right this way please." As she was shown through the halls the woman was explaining the rules and customs of the chateau. "All the trainers who battle here are called 'knights', and each knight has their own noble rank and title. The beginners starting with baron or baroness, then viscount or viscountress, earl and countress, then marquis and marchioness, duke and duchess, then finally grand duke and grand duchess. These titles are based off of the grand total of battle victories you earn here at the chateau." She reached two large wooden doors. "Now through these doors is the Battle Chateau sitting room. Each time you come here this is where you may meet up with other trainers." She turned and opened the doors to reveal a cozy lounge filled with trainers socializing with each other. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I present our newest knight, Corina. Are there any barons, boronesses, or new knights willing to give her her first battle?"

A pair of white gloves was dropped in front of Corina. She looked over to see a girl a few years older than her with dark skin, short thick black hair. She was wearing a cute blue dress and a ribbon in her hair that accented her vibrant gray eyes and a shiny glaceon was at her side. Corina bent down and picked up the gloves. "I'll accept that challenge." She said with a confident smile "I am Baroness Jody and this is my partner, Connor, It's nice to meet you." Corina smiled cheerily "Nice to meet you too."

The glass doors opened to a balcony and battlefield. Everyone stepped out to the balcony and the two girls walked down the steps to the field. Jody had a white cape draped around her shoulders. Corina picked a pokeball from her belt and touched it to Jody's before standing on her side of the field. Once there she threw her pokeball and her new Treecko was released. Jody placed the pokeball at her side and her glaceon stepped out onto the field.

"Treeeee! Treeckoo!" He looked determined. "Now, let the battle commence!"

"Let's start things off with leaf storm!" Arbor jumped into the air and flung razor sharp leaves at his opponent. "Icy wind!" A frosty wind blew all the leaves away, Corina narrowed her eyes. For a Baroness Jody seemed rather strong and calculating. "All right then, Arbor! Use Quick attack and get up close!" Like a bullet Arbor raced forwards and slammed hard into Connor, making the glaceon fly back. "Use bite!" Before Arbor had a chance to dodge it, Connor leaped forward and bit down on Arbor's leg. "Use giga drain!" A green beam of energy was shot from Arbor to Connor, and Corina could tell that the opponent was losing their health, unlike Arbor who was gaining more health by the second. "Now Arbor! Finish them off with Acrobatics!" Arbor glowed bright blue and he zipped across the battlefield and crashed into Connor with his arms spread. Arbor dashed back to his starting position and the glowing stopped. Connor was on the ground fainted.

Arbor turned to Corina and smiled, obviously proud of himself. He jumped onto Corina's shoulder and she rubbed his head affectionately "You did an amazing job, Arbor, I'm so proud of you!"

"The battle is now over, Arbor is the winning pokemon!" Corina walked forward, meeting Jody in the middle of the battlefield. Her opponent was holding her glaceon in her arms. "That was a great battle, Corina! You and your Treecko are strong!"

"Thanks! We do a lot of training, right pal?"

"Tree!" He jumped up onto her head as the referee fastened a white cape around her shoulders. "I'm pleased to announce that Corina is now a Baroness at the battle chateau!" Corina smiled up at her. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" She looked over to Jody. "Hey, why don't we head over to Camphreir Town and you can heal up Connor?"

"So you're from Lumiose City! I love it there!" Jody smiled as they sat in the pokemon center while Arbor was trying to flirt with a female ralts off to the side. "Yeah, it's alright. It gets a little boring after sixteen years of never leaving the city."

"Never leaving? Are you telling me you've never left Lumiose City your entire life?" Corina shook her head, "Not even on vacation."

"Really? Why not?"

"I don't really know. Whenever I'd ask my dad he'd always give me this lame excuse that I wasn't ready, or something like that. So I took things into my own hands!"

"I admire that! My parents weren't to keen on me becoming a trainer either. Anyway, what about your mom? Did she ever say anything?" Corina looked off to the side. She didn't really like talking about her mother. "I just live with my dad. See, my parents divorced when I was only a few years old."

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I had no idea!" Corina put on a smile and waved it off "Don't worry about it! It's no big deal!" Jody was about to say something when Nurse Joy walked over with Connor on a cart. "Jody! Connor is all healed up now!" The shiny glaceon jumped off of the cart and walked up to his trainer. "Well, I should get going, Jody. I gotta leave now if I'm going to make it to Professor Sycamore's Camp."

"You're going to that? Isn't there an age limit?" Corina laughed "No no! Not as a student. I work with the professor and his son in his lab, so I'm going to help out."

"Well, I'll see you sometime?"

"Totally!" Corina looked over at her treecko, who evidently was annoying a female snivy. "I can't leave him alone, can I..." Corina muttered defeatedly. "Arbor! We're heading out!" He bid farewell to the grass type and hopped back onto Corina's shoulder.


	9. Professor Sycamore's Summer Camp!

Corina fixed the pale green bandana in her hair and examined her look in the mirror. She had her hair up in a cute bun and was wearing a cute summer dress that was white on top, had a thick brown belt and a light green bottom with white polka dots that accented her green eyes. She walked out of her cabin, her brown sandals sinking into the sand.

The crisp ocean air filled Corina's lungs as she made her way to the entrance of the camp along with Eda to meet up with the professor and Leon. Soon the glittering ocean came into view and she walked onto the porch of a building where Sycamore was standing with Sophie and Leon. "Hello!" They turned and smiled, excited to see her after so long. "Corina! It's so good to see you! I haven't seen you since after Garchomp's rampage!" Leon hugged her excitedly, "It has been a while, huh! It's so good to see you again!"

"How has your journey been? Successful I hope?" Sycamore asked. She smiled widely "Of coarse!" He looked to Corina's partner and bent over a bit. "Eda! You're looking well of coarse!" He reached out and rubbed her head and she smiled "Ammmm!!" Electricity buzzed around her horns, signaling she was excited to see the professor.

"Professor, you'll never guess what I found when I went to glittering cave! There was this amazing-" She was cut off when one of her pokeballs opened abruptly. Eda simply rolled her eyes as Arbor materialized on the deck. "Arbor! Be careful! You scared me!" He didn't look the least bit sorry as he climbed up onto Corina's shoulder.

"And who's this one?" Sycamore asked her, petting Arbor's head. "This is Arbor! Professor Birch gave him to me while I was visiting Hoenn."

"I see! It's simply marvelous that you've started growing your team!"

Corina was so busy catching up with the Professor that she didn't even notice that Arbor had jumped off of her shoulder and had wondered off. It wasn't until Ampharos brought it to her attention by pointing to the pokemon center, telling her where he had gone. "Oh shoot. He's run off to cause trouble again, I should go find him. Talk to you later!" She waved over her shoulder as she jogged off in the direction of the pokemon center.

The sliding glass doors shut behind her and she looked around to try and spot her micheavious little pokemon. "Wow! A treecko!" She heard someone exclaim from upstairs. She exchanged a look with Eda and headed up the steps, taking two at a time. She looked over to see Arbor giving a flower to a bulbasaur that seemed to be rejecting his advances. There were seven other trainers standing around, all with one of the starter pokemon of both Kalos and Kanto.

Corina walked over and scooped up Arbor in his arms, much to his distaste. "Arbor! How many times have I told you not to run off like that!" She scolded him, then looked back up at the other trainers. "I'm so sorry if he caused you all any trouble! He's just a bit...bold." Corina apologized to the other trainers. "That's all right!" Replied a girl with long blonde hair. "So that Treecko is yours?" Asked a boy with black hair wearing a red baseball cap. "Yes! His name's Arbor. This is my partner, Eda, and my name's Corina!" She smiled at them. "I'm Tierno, and this is my buddy, Squirtle!"

"I'm Trevor, this is my Charmander." A ginger boy said defeatedly, gesturing towards a very energetic Chamander who seemed to be trying to pick a fight with Ampharos. "I'm Shauna! And this is my Bulbasaur!"

"I'm Bonnie! And this is my big brother, Clemont!"

"It's nice to meet you, and this is my Chespin."

"I'm Serena, and that's Fennikin!"

"And I'm Ash, this is my partner, Pikachu, and that's Froakie!" They all introduced themselves to her, and it wasn't until Corina got a closer look at all the pokemon that she recognized them, she smiled at all of them and knelt down. "Hello everyone! It's good to see all of you, again!" She looked over at Ash's Froakie and smiled "And it's especially good to see that you found a trainer that you like, Froakie!"

"How did you know that about my Froakie?" Ash asked, obviously confused that Corina knew that Froakie had a hard time will all it's previous trainers. "See, I'm here with Professor Sycamore, I'm his assistant! So I know all these pokemon!"

"Really? So you work with the professor in his lab?" Corina nodded "I'm from Lumiose City, so I have been able to work with him and his son, Leon, since I was a little girl!"

"That's totally awesome!" Then, Trevor stepped up to her "I've never seen a Treecko or an Ampharos before!" He took out a camera that was hanging around his neck and began snapping pictures of her pokemon. Arbor seemed to be loving the attention and was making several different poses. The shorter boy smiled up at her "You see, it's my dream to take pictures of every pokemon!"

"Are you out on a journey to follow your dreams too, Corina?" Shauna asked, but before she could respond, Nurse Joy came on the intercom "All right, it's time to gather on the beach for introductions, as the pokemon summer camp gets underway!"

"Come on! Let's hurry!" Shauna was the first to bolt down the stairs, with Trevor and Tierno hot on her trail, Ash and Bonnie ran after them. Corina, after laughing at their enthusiasm ran after them as well.

All the campers were gathered on the beach and Corina stood on the stage behind the professor and Leon as he addressed them all. "Hello, Trainers! Thank you all for being here! And why are you here? You're here to build an even deeper bond with your pokemon through your interactions with other trainers. Starting today and throughout the week, I hope you'll have lots of summer camp fun. And now, presenting Nurse Joy! She's opened up a Pokemon Center just for us!" She stepped forward, "I'm happy to care for your pokemon anytime you need me."

"Wigglituff!" Her partner confirmed excitedly, "And Here's our food service manager, who takes good care of us every year, Madame Catherine." She was a pudgy, older woman with frizzy red hair. "My job is to make certain you have the most delicious meals all week long. Of course I have three excellent chefs to help me. The best."

"All right. At our camp, we have a system where each team earns points, depending on how they did in each days' activities." He paused a moment as some teams began to hype themselves up. "First place gets ten points, second place gets seven points, third place gets three points, and all other teams get no points. The goal is to help each other out while competing." Corina stepped forward, "The team that has earned the most points by the last day will have the honor of being inducted into the pokemon summer camp hall of fame!"

"Also, please note that the current Champion Diantha was inducted into the summer camp hall of fame when back when she was your age." This pepped up the campers even more at the thought of being just like the beautiful, talented, powerful Diantha. "Now on our first day we like to get everyone acquainted by starting off with a pokemon battle. It's an annual tradition where no points are awarded, so feel free to challenge any trainer you like."

The trainers began to pair up and Sycamore blew the whistle to start the battles. Corina watched the battles alongside him. He looked over to her out of the corner of his eyes. "It's nice to have you here, Corina." She smiled up at him "I wouldn't miss it, Professor! This was as far out of the house as it got for me growing up! Now I get to help you out with hosting everything."

"Speaking of, have you talked to your father recently?" Corina's smile faded slightly. "I'll take that as a 'no'."

"He just doesn't understand me like you do, professor. What's the point if he'll just tell me to come home?"

"I don't know, Corina, he's still your father."

"So, how's the lab doing?" Corina asked, not very subtly changing the subject off of her father. "It's good, research is going well. Garchomp missed you." Corina smiled again "I miss her too! She's such a sweety!" She got distracted from the conversation when she noticed that Ash and Tierno were the last ones battling. "Hmm?" She noticed the way Tierno's Squirtle was jumping and bouncing.

"I assume you recognized Froakie?" The professor asked her and she nodded "I did, I'm glad he found someone like Ash to be his trainer."

"You know, Ash was the one you saw on the news a while ago." She looked back up at her mentor "He was? Ash is the one who jumped off prism tower?"

"Indeed. Ash is a very interesting trainer, I'm sure he's destined for incredible things."

Her attention was drawn away when Tierno called out her name "Hey Corina!"

"Huh?"

"Why don't you come eat with us? We're all headed to the mess hall!" Corina smiled and jumped off the stage "I'd love to! Leon, why don't you come too?"

"Okay!" He excitedly followed her.

Corina and Leon sat across from Serena and Shauna at the table as she dug into her food. "You never know what Ash is going to do. I'm always learning new things to do for pokemon through his actions." Clemont was talking about his traveling with Ash, "You're never sure of what's next."

"Oh, man, come on! It's not such a big deal!" Ash seemed a bit embarassed that Clemont was saying all these nice things about him. "But your inventions are totally amazing!"

"You're an inventor?" Trevor asked from across Clemont. "His inventions are always helping us out." Clemont reached down and grabbed his bag, setting it on his lap. "Here," He activated something on his bag that reached out a long mechanical arm. This peaked Corina's interest "Whoa! What's that!?" Tierno exclaimed, excited. "Inventing is my passion. I love coming up with things that help the lives of people and pokemon."

"My brother's inventions are unbelievable." Bonnie bragged, obviously proud of her brother. "Have you ever considered giving your blueprints to someone at a place like the Devon Corporation? I'm sure with your inventions you could have them fund your projects." Corina asked, "I mostly like to do them on my own, and that would mean going all the way to the Hoenn Region to take care of that."

"Are you interested in technology, Corina?" Trevor asked and Corina gave a hearty nod. "Most definetly! Have been since I was little! When I was eight I read all of Professor Oak's reports on the pokedex extensively!"

"Hey, I'm from Pallet Town in the Kanto Region, so I know Professor Oak really well!" Ash chimed in and Corina went wide-eyed. "Really? You know Professor Oak! That's amazing!"

"Yeah! He's the one who gave me Pikachu."

"Pikaaa!"

"Corina's been a huge fan of his work simce she was little."

"Leon, you're Professor Sycamore's son, right?" Shauna asked and he nodded. "What's it like being the kid of a Professor?" Leo smiled. "It's great! I get to hang out in the lab all the time and take care of the pokemon. He's a really great Dad, too."

"That sounds amazing! Do you wanna be a professor too?"

"Yeah! I want to continue Dad's research and work with him when I get older. I think all that work is just the coolest!"

That night as Corina was taking a walk on the grounds she caught a glimpse of Serena grooming Fennikin on the docks. "Hello Serena." Serena looked up at her, a bit surprised before scooting over and making room for Corina beside her. "What are you doing out so late?"

"Oh, just being with Fennikin, what about you, Corina?" Corina looked up at the stars, "I love taking in the views of the ocean at night! It's so beautiful."

"Yeah, it really is!"

"You know, you can never take these types of things for granted."

"What do you mean, Corina?"

"My whole life I was kept up in Limiose City, not allowed to leave. Now I live every day by taking everything in with my pokemon! The world is so vast and beautiful!"

"Corina, what are you on your journey for?" Serena asked. Corina looked back at her to see that there was worry in Serena's eyes. "To be honest? I don't really know. It's always been just to do research all across Kalos for the professor, there was never a real reason for me to leave other than just to see the world!"

"And you're not worried about it?"

"Not really! I just trust that, if there is something to this journey, then I'll discover it with my partners! There's not really any reason to rush things."

Corina stood back up and smiled at Serena "I'm sure whatever you're looking for, you'll find it, Serena."


	10. Another Day of Pokemon Camp!

It was the morning of the pokemon orienteering and everyone was warming up and discussing strategies with their teammates. Meanwhile Corina and Leon were at their checkpoint across a wide river that would be blocking some of the team's paths. There were several stepping stones that the trainers and pokemon could use, but it would be a challenge for them all. Corina knew that the campers would be on their way to her ad her friend when she heard the professor's voice over her monitor "Is everyone at your stations?" 

"Checkpoint A reporting in." She heard Sophie's voice, "Checkpoint B all ready to go."

"And checkpoint C is all set!" Corina reassured the professor on the other side of the screen. "I'll be able to monitor all teams from here during the race. I'll be able to observe the trainers carefully to see if they work together well and see how strong the bonds are with their pokemon."

Corina was anticipating both team's arrival after both checkpoints A and B had reported Team Froakie in the lead. But by the time a team arrived to the opposite side of the river, it was Team Squirtle who was in first place.

The team paused a moment, trying to figure out what would be the best way to cross the river. This allowed Team Froakie to catch up from behind. "How are we gonna get across this?" Serena asked all of her friends out loud. "I got this! Froakie, I chose you!" Ash let out his starter pokemon. "Use your frubbles on the rocks!" Froakie reached into the sticky substance around it's neck and flung them onto the rocks going across the river. Ash and his pokemon leaped from rock to rock, the stickiness slowing them down a bit.

Team Squirtle seemed to figure it out too and Shauna used her bulbasaur's vine whip to help her get across, and then to help Bulbasaur come across on the frubbled rocks. "Hey Corina and Leo! Would you stamp our card?" Ash asked as he panted over to them. She smiled and held out the ink and stamp "Sure thing!" After their card was stamped, Leon did the same thing for Team Squirtle before they moved on.

She got back online with the professor to give him an update "Team Froakie is in the lead, but not by much, Squirtle is hot on their tail!"

"Just as I thought, thank you, Corina."

"No problem, professor!" After all the teams had passed by her checkpoint Corina and Leon made their way back to the beach at the finish line to wait for the rest of the teams to circle back around.

After waiting the whole day, and watching the teams through the monitor with Professor Sycamore and his son the teams started to return, but Corina realized it was taking longer than expected for her friends to make it back. "Huh, I wonder what's slowing down team Squirtle and Froakie..." She wondered aloud "Maybe they hit an unexpected roadblock that we hadn't planned?" Leo suggested "Then how come it didn't slow all these other trainers down?"

"I'm sure they're fine, Corina. If they're not here soon you can go out and look for them." The Professor reassured her.

Finally all the teams arrived and the awards for the day were given to the top three teams. Corina made her way through the crowd and walked up to her friends "Say, what took you guys so long to bet back here?" 

"Well, see, we got caught up in this super thick fog and we were separated from Bonnie and Pikachu." Clemont explained. "Yeah, and we stopped to help them search."

"Yeah! And we saw a really cool new pokemon!" Bonnie exclaimed and Corina raised her eyebrows "A new pokemon? What do you mean new pokemon?"

"It could have just been the fog, but it was like nothing we'd ever seen before!" Trevor added. "Never seen before? Do you mind sketching it out for me?"

"Sure!" Bonnie grabbed a stick and began doodling in the sand. It wasn't a great drawing, but Corina got the basic idea. It was tall, with long somewhat stiff looking legs, and long antlers that seemed to be glowing. "This is the pokemon you all saw?" They nodded. "It was huge, and before I could look at it in my pokedex, it vanished!"

"Yeah! I saw it first! It was so pretty! It gave life to all the flowers!" As Corina looked at the design carefully, she knew she had seen it somewhere before. "I know this pokemon from somewhere..." 

"You do?"

"Yes!" It suddenly clicked and she exchanged a look with Leon who figured it out too. "It's Xerneas!" They said in unison, "Xerneas?" They all repeated in unison. "You all have never heard of Xerneas before?" They shook their heads and Corina started to explain "I first found out about it when I was grazing through the history of mythological pokemon! It's known as the Life Pokemon, and is said to have slept for a thousand years in another form that it takes, and can share eternal life with others while it's horns are glowing in seven different colors. Bonnie, I think that's what you were seeing when all the flowers bloomed."

"Wow! A mythological pokemon!"

"And to think I forgot to get a picture of it!" Trevor seemed heartbroken that he wasn't able to document such an experience. "You all are extremely lucky! I wish I could have seen it too!" Leon exclaimed and they all went back into camp.


	11. Team Battle Competition

It was finally the sixth day of camp, but Corina almost didn't want it to end, she had made amazing friends and had wonderful experiences by the ocean. She would miss all the amazing people she had gotten to know over the past week. But it had to come to an end sometime, and Corina could not be more excited for today's event.

The campers were already gathered on the beach when the professor approached them with Corina and Leo by his side. He greeted them quickly before explaining the day's event. "It's already day six of camp, which means we finally decide who gets into the hall of fame! So get ready for the Team Battle Competition!" He got visibly pumped, which was reflected in the trainers standing before him. "The team battle competition works like a tournament. As usual, the competing teams that take the top three spots will receive points." He began, "We have two teams tied for the lead with 13 points and those teams are Team Froakie and Team Squirtle! This is our final camp event, so give it all you've got and have fun!"

All the trainers dispersed to get their strategies in order and Corina turned to Leon. "Are you excited about the battles?"

"How could I not be? This is one of my favorite events of the whole week!" She chuckled a little "You've said that every day."

"That's because it's true for every day!" 

 

Corina walked into the pokemon center to look for Ash, Serena, Bonnie and Clemont to see what their strategy for their upcoming finals battle against Team Squirtle. "Hey you guys!"

"Oh hey, Corina! Are you gonna watch our battle?"

"Of coarse! I wouldn't miss it!" They were getting their pokemon back from nurse Joy when Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor jogged up to the counter "Nurse Joy!" 

"We're here for our pokemon." Tierno explained and Nurse Joy exchanged a look with her Wigglytuff "Huh? That's confusing... I'm afraid they're not here." The trainers all exchanged a confused and worried look. They began to explain that they were approached by the camp chefs and they told them that they were also trained healthcare workers and offered to care for their pokemon.

"Our chefs did that?" Ash asked, placing his hands on his hips. Corina exchanged a look with Eda, sensing something suspicious was going on. "Hmm. Guess they can do anything."

"They might still be busy with the check-up." Serena suggested, but it didn't seem to ease anyone else "Yeah, but it's been such a long time." 

"I think we should go looking for them!" Ash suggested and the pokemon were the first to bolt out the sliding doors, and right away it was evident that Bunnelby and Fennekin could sense something. "Hey Bunnelby's pointing over there!"

"You can help too, Hermes." Corina released the Swablu from his pokeball. The pokemon nodded to each other and started running off towards the forest on the outskirts of camp. "Hey Hermes!" Corina called after him as he flew off with the others. "They all sense something."

"Well let's go!" Corina ran after them and everyone followed close on her tail.

It didn't take too long for the trainers to catch up to the chefs in the woods where they had some sort of cart covered up by a tarp. Fennekin stepped up to the tarp and began sniffing around "Trespasser! Get away now!"

"Your nose is gettin out of joint!" The chefs obviously didn't want Fennekin to be snooping around. "What have you done with all of our pokemon!?" Trevor asked, more of an accusation than a question. "Hey cut it out! Leave our veggies alone!" They shouted as Serena's partner began pawing at the tarp. "What's going on, Fennekin?"

"Hermes, get ready for a fight." Corina told her swablu in a low voice, and he landed on the ground and glared at the chefs. "Both Fennekin and Bunnelby are sure something else is in there!"

"Now you're just making things up!"

"Nothing in here but fresh veggies."

"And if you keep messing with us, there won't be any veggies tonight!" Corina whispered a command to Hermes who flew up over the cart fast as a jet and gripped the tarp with his feet before flying up and revealing the pokemon inside being attacked by a leech seed. They all gasped and Hermes flew back to Corina and sat on her arm.

"Those are pokemon! And no matter what you say, they're definitely not vegetables!"

"What do you think you are doing with them!?" Ash yelled at them. They threw off their robes to reveal odd black and white uniforms with a red "R" on the front before they started to rhyme at them. "Team rocket! Not you again!"

"Team Rocket?" Corina repeated confused. "They're bad guys who try to steal people's pokemon!" Ash explained and suddenly Corina remembered "You're the ones who tried to control Professor Sycamore's Garchomp!"

"Does that mean you're not real chefs?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but this is our day job."

"But you don't have to pay us for today."

"These are the tools of the Team Rocket trade." Corina snarled at them "trade"!?

"What did you say!?"

"No way!"

"And now we go to act two!" They released an inkay and a pumpkaboo. "Don't move a twerpish inch! Not unless you wanna keep these lugs safe." They threatened. "You cowards!" Trevor shouted at them, obviously enraged. "Well yeah, we're bad guys." They didn't even try to deny that what they were doing was wrong. "If you want to save your friends, Pikachu, let's make a deal. Join up with Team Rocket, we keep it real."

"That's gotta be a joke!" Ash dismissed their idea without a second thought. Trevor and Tierno tried to encourage their partners to break free, but they were to weak to even move. Corina looked over at the trainers standing next to her and noticed that Clemont was trying to hide a smirk. She looked down and noticed a dig hole right behind him and saw that Bunnelby had disappeared. Corina smiled a little as well and turned back to the opponents in front of her. "Okay Pikachu, over here right now!" Their talking meowth commanded. "We'll get everyone out of here safely, no doubt." Ash replied confidently.

Clemont stepped forward "Go Bunnelby!" The ground under their meowth shook and Clemont's pokemon rose through the dirt. Ash released his Froakie and along with Fennekin they charged at the cart despite Team Rocket's best efforts. Using scratch, Fennekin broke the vines, and with cut Froakie broke the cart, freeing the pokemon. Pikachu sent them all flying away with a powerful thunderbolt attack.

Corina smiled as the trainers happily reunited with their partners. "I'm glad you're all okay!" She smiled and rubbed Hermes' fluff on his wings. "Thanks to all of you! We owe you so very much."

"And now time for the finals!" Ash said enthusiastically. She was starting to get the idea of Ash's personality and he seemed to love battling a lot.

The battle was action packed and ended with Team Froakie as the winners. Now night had fallen and everyone was gathered on the beach with their partners. "We've got a great surprise for you on our summer camp's final night!" Professor Sycamore greeted everyone with a wide smile. "These fireworks will help us celebrate our week of memories. Marvelous!"

The fireworks went off behind him and lit the beach up in an array of colors. They gasped in awe and Corina left her spot where she was standing with Ash and his friends and stood next to the professor.

He looked down at her "So, what now, Corina?" He looked back up at him, then up at the fireworks. "I'm not sure. Maybe going around Kalos some more? Maybe looking for some more mega stones? I don't really know."

"I think you should go back to Hoenn."

"Hoenn? Why?"

"With all the new mega stones over there I could use your help." She looked back over at him to see Sycamore smiling at her. "Yeah, maybe I can find a Sceptilite or an Altarionite for Hermes and Arbor to use one day!" He looked back up at the fireworks and Corina did too. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked at it a little surprised. "I'm very proud of you, Corina." She looked back up at him, but he was still staring ahead. "You are?"

"Of course I am. Corina, you've grown up so much since you started working for me, you know that?"

"Y-Yeah, I guess I have, I never really thought about it."

"Anyway, you should get back to your cabin, it's late." He smiled down at her as the fireworks ended and the campers headed back to their cabins.


	12. An Old Stone in Hoenn

Corina arrived in the Hoenn region a short while after leaving Kalos. She wasn't the biggest fan of heights, so flying was not her favorite, but if it meant that Corina would be able to continue her research sooner, then she was willing to put up with it. She walked around the hilly path and looked around for the ruins that she knew were around her somewhere, Eda padded beside her. "See anything, Eda? The location the Professor sent us indicated that the ruins with the Altarianite were somewhere around here." 

"Am? Ampharos?" Her partner pointed off to the distance where it looked like a large stone structure was covered in trees and vines. "Yeah! Maybe that's it! Good eye, partner!" They ventured off the path and headed towards the ruins in the distance. 

The brush was thick around them and Corina opened a pokeball on her belt, revealing Arbor who had evolved into a Grovyle since her time spent at summer camp. "Hey bud, I could use your help cutting up some of this brush." He nodded and used cut on branches and vines left and right to help his trainer and Eda get through. 

It wasn't long before they reached the entrance of the ruins and Corina returned her Grovyle to his pokeball. With Eda's help she pushed the entrance aside and stepped into the dark ruins. "Eda, I could use a little light in here..." Her partner lit up the end of her tail and Corina could make out a bit more of what was around her. "These ruins are so alike to the ones in Kalos... I wonder if the people who built these are related?" She wondered aloud, but Eda wasn't really listening to her. "Maybe Hermes can help us locate this mega stone." She released her Swablu and he flapped his wings gracefully. 

The three walked along in silence for a while until Corina saw a rock shimmering at the end of the hallway, "That must be the Altarianite!" Suddenly she heard a loud screech from above. "What was that!?" The noise continued and she determined that it must be coming from right above them on the outside of the cave. The ceiling began to crumble above them and Corina felt a wash of panic coursing through her. Large racks began to fall from above and Corina braced herself for impact, but when it never came she looked up and saw Hermes using cotton guard to protect them. "Thank you, Hermes!" 

"Sswwaaa...!" He was having trouble holding up the rocks, and the stress made him glow brightly and he started changing shape. 

He grew a long, graceful neck. The feathers on his head grew much longer and a tail developed out of his cloud like wings. Eventually the glowing stopped and Corina could look at him again. "Hermes! You evolved to save us!" 

"Allltar!" He looked past her to the mega stone, trying to tell her to run for the stone. Nodding in understanding she jumped up and raced towards the mega stone, yanking it out of the wall and running back to the entrance, returning her pokemon to their pokeballs. The whole ruin was collapsing and Corina jumped out just in time as the whole thing crumbled behind her. 

What must have been maybe fifteen minutes later she opened her eyes to someone trying to talk to her "Miss? Are you okay?" She groaned and opened her eyes slowly, needing to blink a few times to clear her vision. Corina sat up and brought her hand to her forehead. "Owww..." 

"Are you all right?" Corina looked over and saw a girl, maybe about ten or so with bright raspberry hair, pale skin and hazel eyes. She was wearing an outfit of different shades of green, yellow and orange and had a curious little Chespin by her side, which was rare in the Hoenn region. "Y-Yeah, I think so." the teenager finally responded. "My name is Mairin, and this is my partner, Chespie! Who are you?" 

"I'm Corina, and I'm from the Kalos region." 

"No kidding!" Her innocent little eyes sparkled "So am I!" That explained the Chespin. "What happened to you?" Corina looked back at the cave and everything that happened came back to her in flashes. She gasped when she realized that the Altarianite wasn't in her hands. "The mega stone!" She shouted and frantically looked around for it. "A mega stone?" Mairin repeated aloud. 

"Mairin! I told you to stay put! Why do I always need to-" Someone else came down the hill and stood beside Mairin. He had dark hair that shimmered like a swellow's feathers, pale skin, piercing blue eyes, he wore a blue T-shirt and a black jacket with boots and pants of the same color, along with a light blue scarf that was stiff around his neck. Corina blushed slightly as she recognized him as a boy she hadn't seen in many months. "Alain, is that you?" 

"C-Corina?" He was equally surprised to see her. "You two know each other?" Mairin asked and looked back and forth between them. "What are you doing in Hoenn? Shouldn't you be in Lumiose?" He asked, ignoring the girl's question. "I'm doing research on mega evolution-" She looked around her once more and saw the mega stone buried in a layer of dirt. Brushing it off gently, she picked it up and showed it it him. "Is that a mega stone?" 

"An Altarianite to be exact, I have an Altaria." It was then that he looked down at her necklace and noticed her key stone for the first time, and upon closer examination she found that he had one around his wrist "I see that you found yourself a key stone, the Professor will be happy to hear that." Alain looked away from her for a moment "You know the professor too? I got my Chespie from him!" Corina looked down and smiled at Mairin. "I worked with the Professor Sycamore along with Alain, that's how we know each other." 

"The chopper is ready, you two!" Another figure made his way down the hill and stood next to Alain, Corina glanced up at him, looked down to put her mega stone in her bag, then looked back up at the man in astonishment. She stood frozen staring at him, hardly believing she was actually looking at who she knew she was standing in front of. She did a double take and started stammering nonsense like a total idiot while he looked at her with a silvery eyebrow raised. "Y-You're th-the- you're- you're the- I'm- I-" She took a moment to get her words together "You're Steven Stone!" She finally got out and he smiled nervously "I am." 

"Wow! I can't believe I'm meeting Steven Stone! I've read all your reports on different stones from cover to cover at least five times each! I've followed your company's progress since I was ten years old! It's such an honor to meet you!" She went from stammering to taking a mile a minute. He chuckled humbly "And who are you?" 

"My name is Corina! I'm here in Hoenn studying mega evolution on behalf of Professor Sycamore in Kalos!" He looked down at her hands, she was still carrying the mega stone. "Is that an Altarianite?" 

"It is! I found it in this cave just here." She pointed to it. "Or well, what used to be a cave until it collapsed on me." 

"You must have been in there while Rayquaza was attacking us up above." Steven said, half to himself and Corina's pale green eyes widened again "Rayquaza was here!? Are you serious! Ugh! I just had to miss it, didn't I!" She thought for a second, "Wait, why was Rayquaza attacking you?" 

"We're not entirely sure, it came after us after we found The Giant Rock." Alain replied, "The Giant Rock? As in the possible ancient source of mega evolution? That Giant Rock?" 

"So you've heard about it?" 

"I remember reading about it back in Lumiose City, but I guess I never actually thought that legend was real." 

"Well, we're going to Rustboro City to pin-point it's whereabouts. Do you want to come with us?" Steven gestured up the hill to the helicopter waiting for them and Corina smiled and nodded, putting the mega stone back in her bag.

She walked up the hill with all of them, casting some glances at Alain, even though he was always looking ahead. Mairin was excitedly recounting all of the events that transpired since she met Alain, even including the battle she witnessed of Alain's Charizard facing off against a mega absol. 

Corina never thought she'd see Alain in Hoenn. And she didn't remember him being so quiet and reserved. He used to be so much more cheerful and would...smile. He had changed since he left of his journey.


	13. Incoming Doom

The whole ride there Alain remained somewhat quiet while Corina tried to reconnect with him, she saw that she wasn't going to get anywhere and instead talked to Mairin the whole time. She was a sweet, clumsy young girl with a lot of energy. It was nice to see her interact with others, Alain always acted like he never had the time to deal with her while Steven and Corina found her enthusiasm charming. 

They finally landed and they carefully hopped out of the chopper on top of the headquarters for the Devon Corporation. "C'mon!" Mairin giggled excitedly and ran to the side of the helipad to look out on the city, Corina following close behind. The teenager had always dreamed of visiting the Devon Corporation, but never imagined seeing it with Alain and Steven Stone himself. "This is really the Devon Corporation!" Corina's eyes sparkled "This is Steven's father's company! And Steven will one day run the company as well!" 

"I'm going on." Alain told them in a plain voice. Corina and Mairin rushed to his side "Alain, don't you have any sense of wonder at all?" Mairin complained. "There's no time to waste. I don't mind you being here, but don't get in the way." Corina frowned at Alain's bad attitude, but he didn't seem to notice. "I tell ya, this guy really needs to chill out." Mairin pouted and Corina took the girl's hand gently "Alain does have a point, Mairin. As much as I'd love to sight-see too, this isn't the time." 

They met up with Steven in a large conference room with a gigantic monitor screen, Steven was setting up some video feed, along with a chat with who Corina recognized as Lysandre from Lysandre Labs in Kalos. She did her best to contain her over-excited reaction and stayed professional. "This is the ocean located approximately a hundred miles from Rustboro City." Steven explained. "Take a look at this, too." Lysandre prompted in a smooth tone of voice. Two more videos popped up on screen of different views of something moving over the water. "What's that moving object?" Alain voiced all of their internal questions. "We believe it's the continent Pokemon Groudon." Steven answered "Stunning." Corina took a small step closer to the monitor and looked in awe. "Incredible..." 

"The pokemon said to have expanded the continents." 

"Is that really a pokemon?" Mairin asked, stepping up next to Corina. "Yes." Corina answered, still mesmerized by the video. "Now take a look at this." Lysandre zoomed their video to show that the grooves in Groudon's skin were glowing brightly. "Could that be primal reversion?" Steven asked, "Indeed." 

"What is that?" Alain asked, even he didn't know what it was. "From what I've read about it, it's when a Pokemon takes back it's true form in its original powers." Corina explained, Steven nodded and continued "That's a theory. If it's Groudon, then where's the other Pokemon? I wonder..." He asked, mostly to himself. "So there's another Pokemon too?" Mairin asked, stepping in front of Steven. "I told you not to get in the way!" Alain scolded "I'm not in the way! It was a question." They all looked up as some new data was being presented on the screen. It looked like an infrared map with a moving dot. "We've detected a large target moving underwater south of Sootopolis." An unknown voice came in. Whoever it was expanded the image to show the shape of a large beast in swimming motions. Corina recognized its shape instantly and her eyes rose in surprise. "Is that Kyogre!?" 

"Could it be!?" 

"As I thought." there was a pause for a moment, "Will the world be destroyed?" Lysandre asked, voicing their fears. "Destroyed!?" Mairin looked up at them all, panic clear in her voice. She obviously didn't know the full tale. "There's a legend, it's been told since ancient times." 

"The legend says that in the prehistoric era primal Groudon expanded the continents and primal Kyogre expanded the seas. They say the two of them were locked in a fierce struggle to obtain a source of enormous energy." Corina expanded, and allowed Steven to continue "That struggle shook the land and the skies, nearly destroying the world in the process." After he finished, Corina could see the fear in Mairin's eyes. "Some believe the energy source they were searching for was in fact the legendary Giant Rock we saw." 

"The situation is grave." Lysandre appeared on screen again. "If the energy source we're detecting off the shore of Rustboro City truly is the legendary Giant Rock..." Steven seemed to have an idea and rushed over to the control panel, quickly typing in commands and codes. "Groudon is on land and Kyoger deep within the ocean, if I analyze where's they're currently heading then-" Steven drew up a map and pinpointed where their paths intersected. "Those two are gonna meet!" Mairin exclaimed. "It's exactly as the legend says." Steven turned to face them again. "Then we know what that means..." 

"No way!" Alain stepped forward, "Lysandre, I'll head to that location." Corina snapped her head over to Alain, shocked that he would suggest such a thing. "I'm counting on you." And he didn't object at all! 

The screen cut out "I'll go too." Steven volunteered. "I'll get the transport ready." 

"Good, thanks a lot." The two started to leave, seemingly forgetting that Mairin was there, and assuming that Corina would go with them. "But Steven! Wait a minute!" They turned to the girl. "Won't it be dangerous?" Steven smiled "We're just going to observe it from up in the air." Steven was a good liar. "I'll go on ahead." 

"Right." Steven left the three kids alone in the room. "Uh, Alain, your shoulder...does it hurt anymore?" Mairin asked, taking a step closer to him. Corina could tell that she deeply cared for Alain. "No it feels fine." The doors closed "There's no time for small talk now. See you there." He turned his back to her. "Well I'm not gonna go!" He paused, "I see--" 

"You shouldn't go either!" She pleaded, but he still didn't look at her. "I'm scared...really scared. Aren't you, Alain?" Tears were forming in the young girl's eyes. "Remember how angry Rayquaza was the last time!?" Corina never saw it herself, but she remembered the ruins almost crushing her, and the screeching she heard from overhead. "Rayquaza was bad enough on its own! You got hurt! If they both show up to destroy the world, you might not get out of that in one piece!" Apparently Steven's lie wasn't good enough to convince her. She was smarter than he gave her credit for. "I made my promise." 

"Promise?" 

"A promise to Lysander: to acquire power, to become stronger. To become the strongest ever." So that was what this was about. "What? The strongest ever? How far are you gonna go? Fight something that could end the world!?" 

"You simply don't understand!" He shouted. Corina's eyebrows raised in surprise, that was the most emotion she had seen out of him this whole time. He obviously scared her Chespin and he clung to her leg. "But...I don't want you to go." She was fighting back tears as hard as she could. "What if some thing happens?" Alain put his hands in his pockets. "Go home." was all he said before he left. "Alain! Wait please!" But he was gone. Mairin was crying now and Corina went to hold her. 

"Mairin, I..." She tried consoling her, but knew there wasn't much for her to say. She knew Steven and Alain weren't going to wait for her forever, and she had to go. "Mairin. I have to go." 

"Not you too, Corina!" Corina wiped a tear from her red face. "I'll be back, I promise. And I'll make sure we all come back together, okay? You can hold me to that." Corina stood and looked to Chespie "Take care of her." He nodded and Corina left, jogging down the hall to catch up to the other two. 

Corina sat in her seat, not looking out the window with her arms crossed. She couldn't keep it in anymore and looked up at Alain. "I hope you're happy." 

"What?" 

"She's just trying to watch out for you. I don't know if you noticed, but she cares about you a lot." He looked away from her "You don't understand either." 

"Don't start that with me." She scolded him and he looked back up at her, she could see a flash of surprise in his bright blue eyes, he hadn't seen her angry before. "If anyone doesn't understand, it's you. You clearly don't see how much she's worried about you! And what's all this "becoming the strongest" nonsense? Is this what you've been so absorbed in that you haven't called the Professor in months? Is that why you haven't bothered to call your two childhood friends?" He looked away and she got her answer. Being somewhat content in that she looked away as well, remembering that she just blew up at Alain in front of one of her idols. "I'm sorry about that, Steven." She apologized, "No worries, Corina." 

She looked out the window to see they were getting close. No going back now.


	14. Clash of Legends

Out the window Corina could see molten hot land steaming over the ocean expanse, with primal Groudon leading the way. She felt a pit in her stomach, and not just from her fear of heights. "Wasn't it supposed to be hot out here?" Steven asked, adjusting his collar around his neck. "Atmospheric temperature is over 140 degrees and still rising." the captain replied over their mics. It wasn't until now that Corina glanced over at Alain and saw how guilty he looked. Now she felt a little bad about what she had said to him.

"Arriving at our destination, point 0." The captain informed them and they all looked out the windows. "Groudon located."

There were a few other helicopters there, a few she recognized as being with them, but one was from a local news channel, but they were blocked by another chopper and told to leave immediately.

Suddenly Groudon stopped and screeched loudly, Corina almost wanted to cover her ears. Several yards away a shimmering light began to take form. "We're getting high energy readings off shore near Rustboro City."

"What?" They all got up out of their seats and approached one of the crew members. "It matches the energy readings of the Giant Rock."

"It is the giant rock." Corina glanced out the window. "Can you hear me?" Lysandre's voice came over their bluetooth headsets. "Lysandre?"

"Loud and clear."

"We're here." Corina confirmed, waiting to hear what he had to say. "We are picking up energy readings as well, but we haven't located the actual giant rock. We have no idea what will happen, so be careful as you investigate."

"Right."

"Will do." Corina said with a nod, realizing that he couldn't actually see her. An alarm started blaring and they all looked up to the screens. "Something's moving offshore and it's about to reach land!" Corina looked out the window to see Groudon had noticed it as well. "Is it..?" Lights flashed from under the water and something huge breached the surface, causing the water to fly everywhere. Kyogre hovered in the air a moment, glaring at it's rival through menacing eyes before it started to glow and launched some sort of attack.

"They're starting already..." Corina muttered to herself. Groudon hardly looked affected and retaliated quickly, sending all of the other helicopters out of range. The attack sent Kyogre falling back into the water, but the two didn't let up in the slightest, continuing to barrage each other with attack after attack. The effects caused severe turbulence in their aircraft and Corina clung to the wall for dear life. A powerful ice type attack had frozen Groudon over and covered bits of the water in masses of ice. This didn't stop the continent Pokemon, however, for it used it's internal heat to melt and shatter the ice.

They looked away from the window when the crew member addressed them again. "The energy expansion rate above the ocean has increased, while at the same time its crystal density is accelerating, and it's starting to solidify!"

"So it is the Giant Rock!"

"Right."

"I really hope this doesn't mean what I think it means." Corina said, mostly to herself.

Outside the rock continued to glow, and she could see it taking more shape. Suddenly Alain reached over and pressed a large red button next to the door and it began to open. Quickly, Corina held onto the side and Steven covered his face from the harsh wind. "Alain! What are you doing!?"

"Have you lost your mind!?" the two shouted at him. "I've got to stop them." He grabbed a pokeball from his belt "Charizard! Let's go!" He really had gone insane. He began to mega evolve with his partner while in flight, and once it was done Corina recognized it as the X form. It was all black with blue accents and had gained the dragon type. Mega Charizard weaved around Groudon's attacks and distracted them. Kyogre was about to reach for the stone when Steven's shiny Metagross attacked it, Corina hadn't even noticed that he'd released it. "You thought you could protect the giant rock from them with Charizard alone." Steven said dryly. "Well we have to do something."

"You're a real piece of work. I'll take on Kyogre over here." He took the mega stone pendant from his lapel and used it to mega evolve his partner. While he did that Corina took a pokeball from her belt and released Hermes. "All right, Hermes! This is our first time doing this! Let's give it our all!"

"Allltarr!" She touched her key stone on her necklace and her pokemon began to transform into mega Altaria. "Flamethrower!"

"Flash cannon!"

"Dragon Pulse!" The pokemon attacked the legendaries, distracting them from the rock forming above their heads. Corina clung to the side of the chopper as Groudon retaliated against Charizard and Altaria, but they were able to dodge the attacks expertly. "Dragon Claw, go!" Charizard's claws glowed bright and he smashed Groudon's attack to pieces.

"Meteor Mash!" Steven commanded his partner and it charged right into Kyogre, but in the smoke the legendary must have retaliated and Metagross was sent flying, but landed on it's feet on the ice. No wonder Steven's the champion.

"Hermes, Flamethrower!" Her pokemon launched a beam of fire at Groudon's arm as it was reaching for the rock. "Charizard, Steel wing!" Charizard's wings turned silver and he launched at Groudon, but after he got a little ways away the continent pokemon's attack came out of nowhere and struck Charizard, causing an explosion. "Charizard!" Alain screamed out for his pokemon and Corina could see that he cared very much for his partner. At least that much stayed the same since he left.

Charizard was sent crashing and sliding onto the ice below. This caused Metagross to pause for a moment, which gave Kyogre the chance to attack, but Steven's partner soon regained control and continued battling. "Hermes! Make up for Charizard and give Kyogre everything you've got!" 

She looked over and saw Alain strapping a cable to the helicopter, and was already going down to the ice before Corina could stop him. "Alain!" She shouted after him, and Steven had to grip her arm to prevent her from going down after him. "Alain! What are you doing!?" She shouted after him, but he was already out of range to hear her. "Hermes! Cover for Alain while attacking Groudon!"

Before she knew it Groudon had picked up Kyogre and was throwing it in Alain's direction, he tried to run, but the impact of Kyogre on the ice was too much and he was sent flying. Corina stared at his hopefully unconscious body in horror "Take us down, now!" Steven commanded into his mic and the chopper began to lower and Corina prepared herself to jump out onto the ice. "Huh?"

"What's wrong?"

"It's the rear hatch!" They looked out again on the ice and Corina's worries only grew worse when she saw Mairin and Chespie running on the ice. "Mairin, no!!" Steven and her shouted in shock. The girl rushed over to Alain's body, and right when the aircraft was about to land on the ice, it cracked and crumbled, making it impossible for them to land. "Don't let Mairin out of your sight!" Corina threw a pokeball as far as she could and released Eda by their side. Ice chunks were about to hit them when Eda turned and used charge beam on the rocks. "Well done, Eda!"

Metagross and Hermes continued to do their best to attack the legendaries, but Corina could feel her Altaria becoming tired. She glanced down from the battle and saw her partner helping Mairin take Alain into a small cave made by the ice.

Then the glowing became brighter as the Giant Rock finally materialized. "Oh no..."

Then the clouds began to glow and a new Pokemon call entered the mix, the same one that Corina heard when the ruins were destroyed. "Is it..?" Steven began, but he was answered before he could finish when a large green serpent came down from the sky. "M-Mega Rayquaza!" 

It hovered above the rock, glaring down at the two pokemon before it. It did not look happy. Then the two pokemon turned against Rayquaza and attacked it relentlessly. Corina watched in awe at Rayquaza's power as it attacked Kyogre and Groudon simultaneously. Then just like that their primal reversion ended and both of them were gone. Rayqauza returned to its place next to the giant rock and the chopper hovered on the other side. "Such incredible power."

"Truly unbelievable." Corina agreed. Then a submarine appeared to the surface and launched several flash bombs and Corina had to shield her eyes. "The Giant Rock's signals have been lost!" 

"What!?"

"It's lost!?" 

The light cleared and it was true, the Giant Rock was gone. Rayquaza watched as the submarine vanished back into the ocean. Lysandre's voice came back over the mics "Success."

"Huh?" 

"We analyzed the energy from our previous encounter with the Giant Rock and developed a way to seal off it's radiation. Steven, for the time being I think it's best if I keep the Giant Rock with me." Corina raised an eyebrow and looked over at Steven. "With you?" He repeated. "Yes. I'll take it to Kalos."

The next morning Corina and Mairin met up with Steven once more. Corina made sure that Eda and Hermes were taken care of at the pokemon center, and Arbor had been a little jealous that he missed out on the action. 

"What!? He left!?" Mairin shouted in disbelief when Steven told them that Alain was already back in Kalos. "He said if you both stayed with him, you'd just be putting yourselves in danger."

"Well I'm going back too!" In her excitement she was prepared to bolt down the hallway. "Mairin, wait." Steven stopped her and she turned back around. "Huh? Uhh yeah?" 

"Want a ride? If you're interested." Steven smiled charmingly at her. Mairin's eyes sparkled "For real!?" She smiled and skipped down the hallway. Corina giggled "Mairin! Wait for me!" 

"Hold on a minute, Corina." She looked over at him "Yes?"

"I want to ask you something." She turned around to face him and he placed his hands in his pockets casually. "What do you want to do with your journey? What's your goal?" Corina thought for a moment. "In all honesty, I don't know yet." He smiled a bit. "Would you like some help?"

"Sir?" 

"You see, I like you a lot. I think you're a very smart girl and it's not often that I find someone like you who is so dedicated to her dreams." 

"It comes with being stowed away in Lumiose for sixteen years." She smiled, but he still had more to say. "I'm kept much busier than I like to be recently, between being champion, working at Devon, and conducting my research. I need an assistant. Would you like to stay here in Hoenn with me?" She raised her eyebrows and started at him. She was being offered a job to work with one of her idols at one of the top corporations in the world. Where was the downside? Then she thought about Kalos, her father hated that she was on her journey, and he wouldn't appreciate hearing that she was all the way in Hoenn. And what about the Professor's research? Leon would miss her a lot if she was in Hoenn. And what about Alain? 

"That-that sounds amazing, sir-" 

"Great! I'll have the paperwork drawn up as soon as we return from Kalos. Will you need-" 

"But I'm afraid I can't accept your offer at this time." His face fell and he look confused. "May I ask why?" 

"This has been my dream since I was little, but I'm still on my journey through Kalos and I don't think this is the right time for me to leave. You understand, don't you?" He nodded and smiled a little "This is about your feelings for Alain, isn't it?" She stiffened in surprise and blushed. "Wh-What!? My feelings for- How'd you--?" He laughed "Please, Corina. It was not hard to pick up on. The way you kept glancing back at him the whole time you were together, and the way you almost jumped into the ocean to save him after he got hurt." She was quiet, and he chuckled. "Anyway, Mairin is waiting for us. If you change your mind, give me a call." He handed her his business card and walked off down the hall.


	15. Lysandre Labs

They arrived in the airport that afternoon and were now calling up Professor Sycamore and Leon, Corina was excited to see him after what felt like forever. It wasn't long before his face appeared on screen. "Hi Mairin, it's been quite a long time. How may I be of assistance?" He obviously didn't see her off camera. "Professor, uh, you know a trainer named Alain, don't you?" 

"Alain?" 

"You see, Steven, Corina and I have been with Alain, traveling." Corina and Steven stepped into frame. "Hi there, professor." 

"Hello, professor!" 

"Ahh, Steven Stone, correct?" He turned to Corina and smiled "Hello again, Corina. How have your travels been?" 

"They've been amazing, professor! See, you'll never guess what happened! Both Arbor and Hermes evolved! And--" She was cut off by Steven placing a hand on her shoulder, reminding her that now was not the time. "Yes that's correct. You see, Alain, Mairin, Corina and I, we've been through a lot." They began to explain the past few days to the professor, and he had his signature "deep in thought" look the whole time that Corina was a little curious if he was actually listening to them, or thinking about Alain.

They soon left the airport and arrived at the headquarters for Lysander Labs. It was beautiful and Corina had to stop herself from rambling about every little thing. "Sorry to keep you waiting." Lysandre and an employee walked down a flight of stairs. "Hello there, I do not believe we've been introduced." He looked at Corina. "My name is Lysandre, owner of Lysandre Labs." He bowed slightly and Corina did the same. "My name is Corina, sir, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've followed your company's inventions for a while, especially the development of the Holo Caster." He smiled, and before he could respond Mairin rushed up to him "Mr. Lysandre!" 

"Nice to see you." 

"Is Alain here?" Lysandre bent down so he was closer to Mairin's height. "He is indeed, he's battling right now." 

"May I please go and watch!?" She asked excitedly as Lysandre stood back up, towering above them. "I'll get an escort." He nodded to the employee behind him and Mairin went to go stand next to him. "Hey, what about you?" She turned to Steven. "I'll come meet you later." Corina took a step towards Mairin. "I should go watch her." She nodded to the two men and followed the escort, holding Mairin's hand. 

They got up to a balcony where they could watch the battle. It didn't look good and Charizard was badly poisoned, and resisting a mega Venasaur's vine-whip. "Oh no! Charizard." Charizard seemed to notice the two girls and glanced back at Alain who glanced up at them and snapped "Hey! You worry about yourself!" His opponent slammed Charizard down using the vines "Charizard! Get up!" 

There was something different about their battle energy, Alain seemed tense and more easily frustrated. Was there something more going on here? With one final dragon claw they defeated the enemy's Venasaur and Corina cheered along with Mairin. "Alain!" Mairin tried to get his attention, but the next opponent walked through the door "No time to rest! I look forward to soundly defeating you." He smiled cockily and released an Alakazam that had an Alakazamite hanging from one of its spoons. Both trainers mega evolved their Pokemon and the battle had begun. 

Alain defeated trainer after trainer skillfully, it wasn't long before he had beaten six out of ten trainers. "Wow, Alain sure is strong, huh Mairin?" Corina looked to her side and realized the girl had disappeared. "Mairin?" She looked back to the field when she heard Mairin's voice. "Alain!" He and Charizard looked over at her. "What are you doing here?" The tone in his voice was almost bitter, and Corina narrowed her eyes already not liking where this was going. "Watching you! Anyway, is it true you're battling with a key stone and mega stone on the line?" 

"Yeah." 

"But why?" He turned away from her "That isn't your concern, Mairin." He snapped. Charizard and Corina both had a disapproving glare at Alain. Chespie wasn't happy and started shouting at Alain, but Mairin attempted to calm him down. "So, what about our journey?" She asked, setting his bad attitude aside. "Go wherever you want."

"Chespie and I got stronger because we were with you. I want us all to stay together!" 

"No way!" 

"But why!?" He turned away from her "Because you'll be in great danger if you do." What danger is he talking about? Why won't he let them help him? "Hey, if you're with us, I'm sure we'll make it through!" He turned his back "Stop relying on me." 

"Ah-Alain?" 

"Don't you understand? I can't get stronger with you around!" Corina narrowed her eyes at him. Chespie started complaining that Mairin was holding him too tight, she set him down and ran off as Alain retook his position on the battlefield. He looked up at Corina and their eyes met. She glared at him, shook her head and turned away, going down the hall to look for the girl. 

She found Mairin curled up in the stairwell, she frowned and sat down next to her, putting her arms around her. "Mairin, he didn't mean that." Corina didn't know if she believed that herself. "Chee?" He partner walked up to her. "Guys..." Mairin's voice cracked. "I just wanna be alone." She stood up and placed a hand on Mairin's hat and walked off, feeling resentment towards Alain for what he said. She went off to go find a phone, maybe she could call the Professor and Leon and give them a proper social call. 

The phone rang a few times, and it wasn't until the Professor answered that she didn't really feel like talking. "Corina! Good to see you again!" 

"Hi Corina!" Leon smiled excitedly at his father's side. "Hello, Professor, Hi Leo. I had some free time, so I thought I'd catch you up on my journey." He smiled warmly, eager to hear about her travels. "Arbor evolved into a Grovyle since you guys last saw him! It was during a training session before we left for Hoenn. He loves going around and flaunting his new look, even trying to show off in front of some female pokemon here and there." She rolled her eyes and they laughed "He certainly is a unique pokemon. Does he want to evolve into a Sceptile?" 

"He does, he can't wait to get stronger. And Hermes evolved into an Altaria while he was protecting me from some crumbling ruins where we found an Altarianite. He can mega evolve now!" 

"That's wonderful news, Corina, but you don't seem as thrilled, is something going on?" Sycamore saw right through her and she sighed. "It's nothing, just...Alain is different now." 

"What do you mean?" Leo asked, an eyebrow raised. "He doesn't smile like he used to anymore. He's pushing people away, he's really only close to his Charizard and Lysandre... All he cares about is becoming stronger, even being reckless. Today he is going through a trial to battle ten different trainers with his key stone and Charizardite on the line." 

"Corina, I want to talk to you about what happened off of Rustboro City." 

"Hm?" 

"I know you and Steven and Mairin told me everything that happened, but I want to know what happened to you." 

"What do you mean?"

"I mean how were you feeling?" She thought back to the other night, images of Kyogre and Groudon beating on each other then turning on Rayquaza...she could still hear their angry calls in her head. "Other than my fear of heights and being trapped in that helicopter with the doors open, I don't really remember." 

"Is that true?" 

"No. I was terrified, professor. But I was able to get through it because I had my friends and team with me." 

"Corina, months ago while you were still in Lumiose you wouldn't have set foot on an airplane, much less go in a helicopter and try to save the world from three rampaging legendaries. We all change on our journeys, Alain must have just been changed differently than you." She looked off to the side. "If you say so, Professor. But I can't help but feel like there's more going on here." Then the escort from earlier walked up to her and whispered something in her ear. Her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped as he waited to take her to the ER with him. "Corina? What is it?" 

"Y-You need to get down here right now, Professor...Something horrible has happened." 

Corina stood next to Mairin, holding her hand firmly as the watched Chespie lay motionless in the hospital bed. "Mairin!" They looked over to see that Sycamore had arrived. "Professor!" Nurse Joy walked out of the room with a grave, serious look on her face. "Nurse Joy! How's Chespie?" 

"It's not in any danger, but we don't know why it's unconscious." Mairin started tearing up "All we can do now is keep a close watch." Professor Sycamore stepped up to her and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder "How did this happen, Mairin?" 

"I wish I knew..." she shook her head, not looking up at him. "I have no idea!" Corina's heart broke, she hated seeing Mairin like this. She didn't deserve this today, first Alain dismissed her and now Chespie goes to a coma. "We'll keep Chespin here at Lysandre Labs for the time being. This facility is second to none." Lysandre strode up to them. "You are Lysandre, aren't you?" Sycamore asked "Nice to meet you, Professor. I give you my word that Chespin will make a complete recovery- huh?" He was startled when Mairin latched onto him. "Chespie will be okay, right?" Mairin pleaded into Lysandre's blazer as she wept "Chespie will wake up-for sure, right?" Corina frowned at the sight and held her hands to her heart, fearing it might shatter. Lysandre placed a hand on Mairin's shoulder "You can count on it." She didn't try to say any more and let her tears come.


	16. Reconciliation

Corina walked down the steps of the professor's lab and walked into his main research room where he was drinking a cup of coffee and looking out the window. It had been a week since the incident in Hoenn and Corina had been staying with the Professor and Leon in his lab. She saw the Professor also made her a cup and she picked it up off the counter and walked up beside him. "Good morning, Professor." 

"Hello Corina. How are you?" 

"Where's Leon?" 

"He's out feeding the Pokemon right now." 

"Professor, I've been thinking recently..." He turned to her "Hmm?" 

"I've been thinking of seeing my father before I go out again." he took a sip from his coffee "With almost dying...twice. I think I should go see him. He's given up on trying to call me since my journey started and he's probably worried about me, but if I go I know it'll just turn into a fight and he won't want me to leave again. What do you think I should do?" 

"Let me answer that with a question, do you miss him?" 

"Of course I do, he's my father." 

"Well it sounds to me like your mind is already made up." She nodded and set down her coffee. "I'll be back, Professor!" 

She walked down the familiar streets of the city that was starting to wake up. She knew by this time Alistair would be opening up the shop and her father would be putting the fresh baked pecha pastries in the window. She walked up to the familiar cafe, it's purple awning stood out and the designs in the window made it look quaint and cute. She took a deep breath and walked inside, the familiar bell ringing its sweet melody as the front door swung open. "Alistair! Can you handle that customer? I have to get these buns out of the oven!" She heard her father call to her old coworker and she heard the kitchen door open and he appeared. "Hello miss, how can I help--" He stopped when he recognized Corina standing on the other side of the counter. "Hi Alistair, I haven't seen you in a while." She smiled nervously, her hands were starting to shake gently. "Is Dad around?" 

"He-He's in the kitchen." She nodded and walked into the kitchen, her father heard the door and turned around, shock lit up his strong features as he recognized his daughter. "Corina!?" 

"Hi Dad, how are you?" He walked over to her "You're home!" He wrapped her up in a big hug, and she hugged him back. "I have missed you so much." 

"Y-You're not mad at me for leaving?" 

"Corina. I've been so worried about you, since I saw you on the news just over a week ago while they were covering what happened in Rustboro City! Where have you been? What have you been doing? Why did you battle those legendaries?" 

"I'm fine, dad, I've been fine! I've been traveling all around Kalos, having battles and meeting all kinds of new people! It's been amazing! I've gotten to meet Steven Stone! I've seen Pokemon people don't get to see in lifetimes!" He looked her over and his eyes fell on her necklace. "You have a key stone?" 

"Yes." 

"When did you get that?" 

"The day I left." 

"It was from Sycamore, wasn't it?" His face fell slightly. "He's the one who convinced you to run away." Her smiled fell as well as she prepared herself for the argument she had foreseen. "No he didn't. Dad, you know very well that I've wanted to go on a journey even before I met the Professor." 

"But he made you want it more, you would've been happy working here in the cafe with me if he hadn't made you want it that badly." She shook her head "No, Dad! And I'm continuing my journey day after tomorrow, the Professor wants to send me to Alola!" She sighed and took a step backwards. "I'm not going to argue with you, Dad, I'm going back to the lab, you can see me before I leave if you want to." She turned, waved a goodbye over her shoulder and walked back out of the cafe. 

She returned to the lab and walked to the pokemon habitat where her team was socializing with all the other pokemon. Her team turned to her with hopeful eyes, but she just shook her head and sat on a rock next to the water. Her Ampharos walked up to her side "Ammm?" 

"I'll be fine, Ampharos. I mean, I was crazy to think that he would let me continue my journey, wasn't I?" 

"So I take it didn't go well." Sycamore walked out and sat next to her. "No it didn't. It was nice at first, but then we started arguing again and I left before I got too upset. Why can't he understand me like you do, Professor? You've always supported me in whatever I wanted to do, he just wants me to work at that cafe with him." 

"Corina, you know he's just trying to--" 

"I know, I know. He's just trying to protect me." Her partner lay a hand on her leg. "He saw my Key Stone, he know that I'm powerful enough to take care of myself now." 

"Corina, has he talked about your mother much?" The fact that Sycamore implied that he knew something about her mother interested her. "No." 

"I knew her when she still lived here, we studied together. She was just like you." 

"She was?" 

"Yes. Ambitious, curious, smart, cheerful, adventurous. But much like you she grew tired of staying in one place all the time doing things she didn't much to care for. So on a trip to Hoenn she fell in love with a sailor and got a job working at some company over there." Corina had never heard this before, she looked down at the grass under her feet and the professor placed a hand on her shoulder. "He's afraid of losing you, Corina." 

"I...never knew that before..." 

"Well, I'll let you sit on that, I should go contact Lysandre." He stood and walked back inside, leaving her there to her thoughts. 

After a minute or two Leon walked over to her, some of the pokmeon hovering around him. "Hey." 

"Hi." 

"So your talk with your Dad didn't go well?" 

"No." There was a short silence until Leon brought up the Donphan in the room. "How was Alain? Did he say anything about us?" Corina sighed. "No, he hasn't. He's apparently been working a lot with Lysandre on mega evolution. Lysandre gave him a key stone and a Charizardite X, so Alain has been training a lot. He talked about some bogus "needing to become the strongest" junk. He's not like he used to be, Leon." 

"Needing to become the strongest? When was he so concerned about power? He's always liked battling, but power never came into it." 

"I don't know, Leo. There's something wrong, something's weighing on him, and I can't figure out what it is." 

"Where is he now?" 

"Who knows. Off battling some mega evolution trainer or something. He can keep at it as far as I'm concerned. He has no right to push his friends away and put himself in danger." She looked back at Eda and ran a hand along her fur. Leon was quiet and sat beside her. "I miss him though." She sighed. "Me too."


	17. Sunny Alola!

Corina's plane touched down on the sunny shores of the Alola region, she had to change from her cozy sweater to a loose light pink shirt that was tied up in front, and a pair of pale green cutoff shorts, a green bandana in her hair, and black and white tennis shoes.

She looked around at the sunny island, she had never seen such a tropical and beautiful place before. "Eda! Isn't this place beautiful?"

"Ammmphhaaa!" She was soaking up the sun. "Come on, we've got to get to the Pokemon School if we're going to make our meeting on time!" She grazed over her map quickly and ran down the street and saw the large Pokemon school in sight. She walked inside, and immediately got lost in the hallways. "Oh great, we're lost Eda, why are these hallways so long?"

"Need some help?" Corina turned to see a girl about her height with long dark green hair, tan skin and matching green eyes. "Yeah! Any idea where Professor Kukui's office is?" Corina asked. "Sure! I'll take you there!" She took Corina by the wrist and led her back down the halls. "You must be new here?"

"Oh no no! I'm not a student here, I just landed here from the Kalos region. I'm doing research abroad for Professor Sycamore." Corina explained and the girl smiled bashfully. "Oh sorry! I just assumed! My name's Mallow by the way!"

"I'm Corina! And this is my partner Eda."

"An Ampharos, huh? We don't see many of those in Alola!"

"Speaking of, what is this Pokemon on your shoulder?" Corina asked, only just now noticing the small pink Pokemon on Mallow's shoulder giving off a sweet aroma. "This is my Bounsweet! They're grass types native to the Alola region!"

"They're adorable!"

"I know!" She stopped in front of a door with the sign "Professor Kukui" on it. "Here it is!" Corina knocked on the door and it opened a second later and a tall, darker skinned man opened the door. He wore a crisp white lab coat, green frame glasses, no shirt, gray shorts and green shoes. He smiled widely when he saw them in the doorway "Professor Kukui?" 

"That's me!"

"I'm Corina, I was sent here by Professor Sycamore!" 

"Oh right! He told me you'd be stopping by! Come on in!" He stepped back and allowed her to come into his office, a small brown pokemon bounded over to say hello. "This here's Rockruff!"

"Awww! Arent you a sweety!" She rubbed his head and suddenly a pokeball on her belt opened and her Grovyle materialized beside her. "Arbor! You scared me!" He didn't look sorry at all, but looked jealous that other pokemon were getting more attention from her. She sighed and rubbed his head "What will I do with you?" She turned to Kukui "I'm sorry about him, he's a bit routy." He simply laughed and stepped over to them, rubbing the underside of Arbor's chin. "He looks very strong! You do a good job raising him!"

"Thank you, Professor Kukui." She looked up at him. "So the Professor told me you wanted me to tell you about mega evolution?" 

"Yes! You both study mega evolution in Kalos, right?"

"We do. With his son, Leon." She pointed to the key stone around her neck and the Ampharosite around her partner "We're both capable of it." 

"Interesting! You know, I've never seen mega evolution before. I'd love for you to show it to me and my class!"

"Your class?" 

"Yes! I'm a teacher here at the school, and it could be very helpful for them to see it!"

"I'd love to!" 

He led her outside where four kids around her age, including Mallow were waiting in a large field. "Alola everyone! This is Corina, she comes all the way from the Kalos region on behalf of Professor Sycamore. As many of you know, Kalos is famous for something called mega evolution, and Corina is here to tell us about it!" She stepped forward with a big smile on her face "Hello everyone! Now, who can tell me what mega evolution is exactly?"

"It's when a Pokemon undergoes another stage of evolution during battle!" A shorter, pale boy called out and Corina nodded. "However that is true, mega evolution is about much more than evolving and gaining power. It's a show of you and your partner's bond as trainer and Pokemon. Who wants to have a battle?" The dark skinned boy with wild black and red hair stepped up. "Alright! What's your name?"

"My name's Kiawe." 

They walked to the battlefield and Eda stepped out in front of her. The boy released a Charizard, he looked battle-strong with slightly torn wings. Their energy reminded Corina of Alain. She shook her head and took a deep breath. "Eda! Let's show them what we've got! Mega evolve!" She touched her finders to her key stone and the two became connected through beams of light and her partner transformed into her mega form. They all stared in awe at the Ampharos' new form, with her flowing white hair and curled horns. "Eda! Use Dragon Pulse!"

The battle went on for a short while and Corina was about to pull out the finishing blow "Charizard! Let's go!" He stretched his arms out in front of him and started doing a series of poses and a silver band on his wrist started glowing brightly. "Inferno Overdrive!" He commanded and a giant fireball developed in front of Charizard and launched at Eda. When the smoke cleared Eda was lying on the ground and changed back to her regular form. Corina returned her partner and rushed up to her opponent 

"Kiawe! That was awesome! What was that!?" He was startled slightly at how close she had gotten in a few short moments. "That was a Z-move." Kukui explained and stepped up to her. "A Z-move?" 

"It's an Alolan tradition." They all stepped over to her. "That was an amazing battle you two!" 

"My name is Lana by the way." Said a shorter girl with bright blue hair holding some sort of water type. "I'm Sophacles." Said the shorter, plumper boy who answered her question earlier. "And I'm Lillie." 

"It's nice to meet all of you!" 

"Corina, when do you head back to Kalos?" Mallow asked. "I'm not sure, about three weeks I think? Really whenever Professor Sycamore needs me back." 

"Where are you staying while you're here?" Kukui asked her, "I'm not sure, maybe just a hotel somewhere." 

"Why don't you stay with me? I have an extra loft at my place, and you can come by the school with me every day." Corina smiled "Really? That sounds really amazing! Thanks Professor!"


	18. New Team Member

Corina stepped out of the house and into the bright Alolan sun. She had been staying in the loft with Professor Kukui for about a week and had been enjoying going to the Pokemon School and getting to know all the other students. She was on her way to school one morning with Eda when they passed by a hedge of bushes. Corina had to stop when Eda started staring at it. "Eda? Is there something there?"

"Ammm..." She pointed and Corina bent over and to her surprise saw a white Pokemon egg sitting there. It was all alone and Corina looked around, there was not a Pokemon or person in sight. "What should we do, Eda?"

"Amm! Ampharoos!"

"You think we should take it to Professor Kukui? But what if it has someone looking for it?"

"Ammpha!"

"I suppose you're right." She carefully reached into the bushes and picked up the egg, cradling it in her arms.

She hurried to the Pokemon School and walked into the classroom. "Good morning, Corina!"

"What do you have there?" Kiawe asked "A Pokemon egg. I found it along the path on the way here in some bushes. I wasn't sure what to do so I thought I'd bring it with me."

"I wonder what kind of Pokemon it could be!" Mallow walked over and inspected the egg. "I have no idea, but the design seems familiar to me from somewhere..." Corina thought out loud and looked down at the egg in her arms. "Well, it looks like a vulpix egg." Professor Kukui walked back in "A vulpix egg? But aren't those typically orange?" Corina asked and Kukui put his hands in his lab coat "But in Alola there are regional variants of several different Pokmeon. So an Alolan Vulpix is an ice type."

"An ice type? Really?" She looked down at the egg and smiled "I can't wait to see it!"

"Why don't we find a nice place for it, hmm?" Kukui gently took the egg from her and set it on a cushion next to her desk.

They all dispersed for lunch, but when they came back Corina saw that the egg was gone, and a bunch of broken shell was on the cushion. "Um...guys?"

"Yes Corina? Is something wrong?"

"I think the egg hatched!" They all looked over to the cushion as well and saw there were only broken white eggshell. "Yeah! But then...where's Vulpix?" Mallow asked out loud and they all looked around. "It couldn't have gone far! Let's go looking for it!" They all hurried around the school looking for the Vulpix, but it was nowhere in sight. No matter how hard they looked they couldn't find any trace of the ice type anywhere, but Corina wasn't about to give up hope.

"Ammm!" Her partner got her attention and pointed to Corina's pokeballs, implying that the rest of the team could come out and help. Corina nodded "You're right, Eda!" She released Arbor and Hermes from their pokeballs. "You two can go look around outside, okay? Make sure you keep a close eye out." She turned to Arbor "And no running off, even if you see a pretty girl." He nodded, and Corina was unsure if he actually meant it, but sent them away anyways.

Suddenly a commotion came from outside and Corina rushed to the balcony to see some people in matching black and white outfits cornering a small Pokemon that Corina couldn't quite see. She rushed over to them, but they still didn't notice that she was behind them. "C'mon little one, don't be scared."

"Yeah, we don't bite."

"Just imagine the kind of money we'll get for selling this little one!" The Pokemon whimpered, frightened "Hey! Leave that Pokemon alone!" They turned and glared at her. "This isn't yer business, why don't you run along, girly."

"Who are you guys anyway?" 

"Who are we? We're the infamous Team Skull!"

"Yeah! You don't wanna tangle with us!"

"Wanna bet?"

"Tell ya what, we'll leave this little runt alone if you hand over that pretty little Ampharos of yours." She scoffed "You're out of your mind!"

"If you insist!" The three of them released two Pokemon each. Two Salandit, two Zubat, and two Yangoose. "No fair! Six on one!"

"You're the one who wanted a battle, missy." Corina narrowed her eyes at them and Eda stepped out in front of her. "Eda! Let's even the odds a bit!" She touched the key stone on her necklace and her partner mega evolved, obviously freaking out her opponents quite a bit. "Eda! Use Agility!" The light Pokemon's speed rose by quite a bit "Now Thunderbolt!" Before they could even get in another move, Eda used Dragon Pulse and their Pokemon were out of the running. They all returned and looked at her, almost frightened. "Y-You should've warned us that you could mega evolve!" They ran off quickly and Corina looked down to the Pokemon they had been harassing, and saw that it was the Vulpix they had been looking for.

"Hey there, Vulpix." Corina knelt down and held out a hand, only for Vulpix to cower away from her. Her other two Pokemon must have noticed the commotion and Hermes landed softly beside her. He must have noticed that the small ice type was frightened and began singing softly. Vulpix looked up at him, her bright blue eyes looked at him in wonder. He continued singing and wrapped her in his cloud like wings soothingly. Corina smiled and saw that the small ice type had fallen totally asleep. "Nice work, Hermes." She rubbed his head and took the small baby in her arms and carried her back inside.

That night Vulpix was staying with Corina, and had fallen asleep on her bed. Corina sat in front of the phone and called up Professor Sycamore. "Corina! So good to see you again! How are you enjoying Alola?"

"I love it here, it's so warm and beautiful. I found a new pokemon today!"

"Oh really? What kind?"

"It's an Alolan variant of a Vulpix! It's a beautiful ice type!" He smiled at her "That sounds marvelous!" She smiled, then looked off to the side, his smile faded. "Corina? Are you okay?"

"I just... How's Mairin?" He frowned and sighed "Still nothing from Chespie. She's really taking it hard." Corina frowned and looked down at the ground. "I wish I could be there to help her get through this."

"Well, I'm sure he'll wake up soon. And you will be back in Kalos soon, won't you?"

"Yes. But still, I feel like I'm not there for her. And I assume that Alain is still who-knows-where." He nodded "Mairin hasn't seen or heard from him since what happened at Lysandre Labs."

"Anyway, it's late, Professor. I should get going."

"Goodnight, Corina."

"Goodnight, Professor." She hung up and sighed, then sat back down on her bed, waking up the Vulpix on her bed. "Oh! Sorry Vulpix. I didn't mean to wake you." Vulpix stretched and got up, walking over to Corina's bag on the floor. "What are you doing..?" She rolled an empty Pokeball out of the bag and smiled before touching the button with her nose. It rocked a few times before it clicked, signaling that Vulpix now belonged to Corina.

The girl smiled and opened the Pokeball again, hugging the small ice type. "I'm gonna call you Lani, okay?"

"Vuuull!" She wagged her crisp white tail back and forth happily. "Welcome to the team, little one."


	19. Back to Kalos

Corina arrived back in Lumiose City after spending three weeks in the Alola region. Corina had done a lot of training and sight seeing, and Arbor had now evolved into a Sceptile and was very proud of his newest look, and after lots of work Lani was close in level with the rest of the team. She was given the evolutionary stone for Vulpix-an ice stone-by Professor Kukui in case she and Lani wanted to evolve. 

Her plane touched down maybe about an hour ago and now Corina was walking through the streets of her hometown with Eda by her side. "Wow, this city doesn't feel as big anymore, huh, Eda?" 

"Ammm!" 

"Now that we've seen most of Kalos plus two other regions, our journey has taken us all over the place, and now we have three friends to help remind us of our times in those regions." Corina observed as the reached Professor Sycamore's lab. It had felt like a long time since she's been home to stay in a while. She knocked on the doors and waited a moment until it swung open and Leon was standing there. "Corina! You're back! come on in." She and Eda stepped inside to smell the familiar scent of the Pokemon sanctuary and the coffee Sycamore always has brewing. "How was your flight back?" 

"It was okay, you know I don't like flying all that much." He nodded "Yeah you've always been a scaredy torracat when it comes to flying." He teased her and she nudged him playfully and he led her outside, immediately all the Pokemon rushed over to greet her. "They've missed you." Sycamore said and walked over to the two kids. "I can tell! Here, why don't you say hello to everyone!" She tossed out her pokeballs to release Hermes, Arbor, and Lani. Right away Arbor began showing off his new look and Hermes stayed by Lani to help her stay calm in front of all these new faces. "Wow! Look at Arbor! He's quite the Sceptile, isn't he?" 

"Yeah, he's very proud of himself." 

"And this must be the Alolan Vulpix you were telling me about?" Corina nodded and picked up the small ice type. "Yeah! Her name is Lani." 

"It's amazing that these variations of pokemon have different appearances and typing." 

"I know! And Alolan Ninetales is both an ice and fairy type!" 

"It's so beautiful!" 

"Isn't she?" Corina smiled as Leon rubbed Lani's soft fur. "It sounds like you really enjoyed the Alola region?" the Professor asked as she set down Lani beside Hermes again. "I did, thank you so much for sending me there, Professor." 

"Traveling always does us some good." 

"How have things been in Lumiose?"

"Well, as you know, the league is starting up soon, so there have been even more people here than usual." 

"Right. The bakery always gets good business this time of year." 

"How long are you thinking of staying in Lumiose?" Leo asked, his eyes hopeful. "I'm not sure, a while I think. I've been traveling so much that I just want to stay in one place for a little while." 

"I look forward to it. Have you thought about going to see your father?" 

"I thought about it, but I don't know about that just yet. It'll just end up like last time, I know it." he nodded, "Well as usual, you're free to stay here." 

"How has Mairin been, any updates?" He sighed and put his hands in the pockets of his lab coat. "She's been spending time with Lysandre, sometimes she spends days at a time at Chespie's bedside, refusing to leave. Nothing has changed since you left." 

"Nothing?" She repeated back to him and he simply shook his head. "Poor girl."

"Hopefully she'll be at the league." 

"What makes you think so?" 

"Well Lysandre will be there, and so will Alain." 

"Alain will be back in Lumiose?" The professor nodded. "Are you going to go see him?" She asked and the Professor nodded. "It's been so long, there's so much I want to tell him about what's been going on. Aren't you?" 

"Uh- Is Ash going to be there too?" 

"Corina." 

"Yes?" 

"You're avoiding my question." He raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't know, after he disappeared on Mairin like that, I don't think I want to see him." 

"Corina, I'm sure there was a reason for that." 

"Are Ash and his friends going to be here?" Sycamore sighed a little, knowing he shouldn't get into this with her. "They are, I'm sure you'll run into them sometime during the competition." 

"Good, it's been a long time since I've seen them all." 

"When was that, at the summer camp?" She nodded. "That was near the start of their journeys." 

"It was near the start of yours, too." 

"That's true." 

"That reminds me, come with me, there's something I want to show you. Oh, and bring Arbor along." She furrowed her eyebrows together and called for Arbor to follow them. 

He took them into one of his research rooms and handed a box to her. "A homecoming gift." She opened the ornately decorated box and gasped when she saw the inside. "Professor!" 

"A Sceptilite for you. I didn't know that Arbor had evolved already, but I guess it was perfect timing." 

"Professor! You didn't have to get us a Sceptilite!" 

"Please, it wasn't much trouble. Professor Birch sent it to me when I mentioned to him that Arbor was a grovyle and wanted to evolve again." 

"Sceeeee!" Arbor gazed at it in wonder, "Thank you so much, Professor! I don't know what to say!" She lifted it out of the box, and saw it was attached to a clip and laying on top of a dark reddish scarf. She tied the bandana around his neck and attached the mega stone and smiled at him. It was a good look on him. "What do you think, Arbor?" He smiled and hugged her tightly, making her laugh as he nuzzled her. "A-Arbor! HAHA! That tickles!" 

"You and your team should go get some rest, I'm sure you're all tired from your trip back." Corina nodded and took her team upstairs with her to the bedroom she would stay in. 

After she settled in Leon knocked on the door. "Come on in, Leo!" 

"You're really not going to see him?" He asked and Corina sat on the bed. "I don't think so... Are you?" Leon looked away, gazing around the room. "I'm not sure. I don't think I should." 

"Why not?"

"I think Dad and Alain need to have a moment alone to talk. I don't think I should be there, and with how much training he'll be doing, I...I don't want to distract him. Besides, I don't know what I'd say to him...He's been gone so long." 

"Yeah, I know what you mean. He hardly talked to me while I was in Hoenn." 

"Really?" 

"Yeah..." 

"Maybe his crush on you has just gotten worse." Leon replied in a teasing tone and Corina felt her cheeks heat up a little. "Shut up, Leon!" She tossed a pillow at him, laughing. "I'm just saying, Corina, maybe he's just so "enraptured by your beauty" that he was so speechless!" He teased more and Corina pushed him out of her room. "Get outta here!" They laughed and he stood in the doorway. "I'm serious!" He laughed more as she playfully shoved him out of the room and shut the door.


	20. Let the League Begin!

Corina woke and opened the window out to the streets, there was already music and commotion echoing down from the cliffs where the league was taking place. She took a deep breath and smiled, she always loved the pokemon league. The excitement and intensity of each battle were unique to every year, and this year would be special, she knew it. 

She walked downstairs into the lab and the professor and Leon were waiting there for her. "You ready, Corina?" She nodded excitedly and headed out with Leo and Professor Sycamore. Riding the car up the hillside she looked out the window as more and more of the city came into view, and more and more people were crowding the street and sidewalk as they walked up to the stadium. Although she had been the professor's assistant for many years she would always attend this tournament with her father, and never with Sycamore and her best friend. She turned to look at him when he laughed a little, "What's so funny?" 

"Nothing just...Even after all this time you never lose your sense of excitement." 

"Well I love the league! It's one of my favorite times of-" 

"I mean that as a good thing, I hope you never lose it." 

The sun was shining brightly as Corina and the Sycamores took their seats beside the champion: Diantha. Corina had had the opportunity to meet her once or twice when she'd come to Lumiose and meet with the professor, and had become quite comfortable around her. "Hello Augustine, hello Leon! Good to see you." 

"Good morning, Diantha! You remember my assistant, don't you?" He asked as Corina sat beside Sycamore. "I do! Good to see you again, Corina." 

"Hi again, Diantha." 

"Excited to see the battles today?" 

"Of course! I love the Pokemon league." She opened her mouth to continue when the fletchling were released over the stadium and the confetti was dropped everywhere, signifying the start of the league. The crowd irrupted into cheers. 

"A beautiful, clear blue sky marks the beginning of this much anticipated event." The announcer came on the speakers. "The Kalos League is on! First up, our opening ceremony." Diantha stood and made her way around the table. "Kalos champion Diantha will deliver the opening speech." 

She stepped out close to the edge with her radiant smile on her face. "To all our trainers: you efforts and experiences are treasures that will always be with you. Now is the time to put all of it to the test. The Kalos League demands that you give everything you've got, and demonstrate all your hard work and dedication. It is my great honor to declare this year's Kalos League open!" Everyone cheered wildly as she made her way back to her seat "Another marvelous speech, Diantha." 

"Thank you, Professor." She nodded to him as the announcer declared the two challengers. She looked down and remembered her friend Trevor from camp, the small ginger boy looked tense, but her eyes darted over to the other side once she heard Alain's name announced. Her hands clenched into fists and she subconsciously sat a little more forward in her seat. "He'll do just fine, Corina." She looked over and saw that the Professor had noticed her change in behavior, "I'm still angry with him." He chuckled, "I know." she looked over at Leon as he snickered beside her. "What are you giggling at?" She narrowed her eyes at him and he forced his smile away, but his blue eyes still held a mischievous laughter. "Nothing." She elbowed him in the side to shut him up.

She watched as both the trainers released a Charizard. "So Trevor's Charmander has fully evolved, good to see. And it's good to see Alain's Charizard again too." she thought as she watched the battle commence. But after only a few attacks Trevor paused and touched something on his camera, Corina could hardly believe it when his Charizard began to mega evolve. When it was finished she recognized it as the Y form or Charizard's evolution and stared, stunned. "So Trevor can mega evolve his Pokemon, wow!" Corina gasped. "I have to admit, I'm not surprised." Sycamore casually said from beside her. "Huh? What do you mean, professor?" 

"Think about it, Trevor is a very smart and dedicated trainer. Of coarse he'd bring mega evolution into play." 

"So it's no doubt now that Alain will use mega evolution with his Charizard. Trevor just up-ed the stakes, Alain won't back down from a challenge." Leon observed, turning back to the battle as his theory was proved and Alain mega evolved Charizard. "Now it's only a matter of who has the stronger mega evolution. Alain, or Trevor." 

Soon the battlefield was covered in smoke, Trevor's Charizard flew above the smoke. Alain commanded an attack with a specific angle measure. "He's commanding with that specific-ness!? Can they-" She was cut off when the attack landed directly and Trevor's Charizard was out of the running. The three trainers were speechless. "Wow..." 

"What a bond, Alain and Charizard have come a long way..." 

Soon Trevor's Areodactyl and Florges were all beaten, and all by just Charizard. "He's so strong." 

"Was he like this when you met up with him, Corina?" 

"On some level, yes. He was very strong, but this is real power. He's done a lot of training since I've seen him. I actually never saw him use any other pokemon other than Charizard." She looked over at Alain's opponent and even from up there she could feel how much this affected him. "Oh, Trevor..." 

Both challengers walked away and the audience waited for the next two. "Announcing, Titus and Ash!" Titus was there...but where was Ash? Corina felt a sinking feeling in her stomach when Ash wasn't there, if he didn't show up soon, he would be disqualified! The referee was about to announce Titus' victory when Ash came barreling down the tunnel. Corina sighed with relief and held her hand to her head. "Oh Ash. What were you doing." 

Titus sent out his first pokemon, Altaria, and Ash sent out Greninja. Corina couldn't help but smile, she remembered all the times Froakie had been sent back to the Professor with complaints, and now there he was, looking strong and confident as a Greninja. "It's good to see Greninja like this." Leon smiled. "I was just thinking the same thing. And I don't think Froakie could've made a better choice." 

But as Altaria let loose a draco meteor, Greninja enveloped himself in a torrent of water. He dodged the metors perfectly, and when the attack was over the audience could see that he had changed form. It was crazy, but he almost looked like Ash "What in Arceus' name...!" 

"What happened!?" 

"Professor, do you know what this is?" Corina looked over at him, but he just shook his head, just as speechless as she was. With one hit Greninja won. "It's obvious that his power has increased greatly!" 

"I wonder what that could be. I've never seen anything like this." 

It wasn't long before Ash was the victor, now they just had to wait for the rest of the battles of the day to take place.


	21. The Semi-Finals!

Over the past few days have been some exciting battles. Now it was time for the semi-finals and Corina couldn't be more excited to see Ash's and Alain's battles. Currently, Alain's Charizard had just defeated Remo's Rhyperior, and it was on to the next Pokemon. 

"Alain's power is really amazing. In all his battles he's only ever used two Pokemon." Sycamore observed. "He's certainly grown a lot on his journey." Corina glanced at him to see his usual small smile on his lips. She looked back to see Remo's next pokemon was a Garchomp whom he mega evolved right away. "Remo isn't messing around with Alain, he must know how powerful he is." 

"Yeah, but Alain doesn't mess around either." the Professor replied as Alain mega evolved Charizard as well. And it didn't take long for Alain to win, but with every quick victory Corina could feel that there was something not right with him. He would never smile, even when he had made it into the final round. 

Next up was Sawyer and Ash, and Corina knew that this would be one exciting battle. There was Sawyer who could mega evolve his Sceptile, then there was Ash and his Greninja. 

"Interesting, a match between a trainer like Ash, who battles with passion, and Sawyer, who operates using cool and calm analysis." Sycamore observed from beside her. "In a way, they're exact opposites. I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of battle this will be." Diantha replied.

The battlefield rose up to reveal a forest, and Ash revealed his first Pokemon, Hawlucha. Hawlucha flew around the field and struck a series of powerful poses after throwing off a vibrant mask and cape. "Well that's one way to make an entrance." 

"Remember, this is Ash we're talking about, it's just like him to make a great first impression." Sycamore chuckled. Sawyer saw this, then released a Slacking. "Wait a moment, Slacking is a normal type Pokemon while Hawlucha is fighting. Why would he do that?" 

"Sawyer isn't stupid, and knowing his tactic of assessing the situation, I'm sure he has a plan up his sleeve." Ash commanded the first few attacks, but Corina-along with the rest of the crowd-was confused as to why Sawyer wasn't commanding any attacks, and Slacking seemed totally unfazed by the attacks. "What's going on..."

Finally Sawyer commanded an attack: counter. And it was with that one attack that Hawlucha was knocked out. Everyone was stunned at the power of Sawyer's Slacking. But once Ash released Talonflame, it wasn't long before Slacking was gone and sawyer released a Clawitzer. "A water type against a fire type, that's pretty basic for Sawyer." 

"Any strategy is a strategy, Corina." As Talonflame soared around in the sky above the field, Clawitzer used aqua jet to soar after it. "Now that's impressive!" 

"That must be part of the reason Sawyer chose it." 

"See, Corina? Don't underestimate him." Sycamore smiled at her and she nodded. Considering Sawyer's strategy and the clear type advantage Ash's Talonflame fainted and he released his partner, Pikachu. Pikachu bolted around the trees, showing off it's impressive speed. "They're both so fast, but Clawitzer still has damage from the previous battle. I wonder who will win." Pikachu seemed to be having trouble hitting Clawitzer at first, but after a barrage of super effective electric type attacks, Sawyer's Pokemon fainted. Sycamore clapped beside her. "Marvelous! Such an intriguing battle between them! One to remember." 

"There is such a strong bond of trust between both trainers and their Pokemon." Diantha commented, and Corina nodded in agreement. 

Sawyer sent out Aegislash next. Pikachu went back into the forest, but Sawyer seemed to anticipate this and commanded his Pokemon to cut down all the trees in the forest. "Looks like Sawyer's up to something interesting. How Marvelous." The professor observed with a smile. "So far, he's been planning his tactics very carefully. We'll find out if he's coming up with something to defeat Pikachu soon." 

"Be careful, Ash." Corina muttered, hoping for the best for her friend. But she frowned as she watched the battle, Pikachu was really getting thrown around out there. But then Pikachu used iron tail on the ground, sending all the wood flying up into the air. Sawyer, not seeing the trap, told Aegislash to use fury cutter as Pikachu darted between bits of logs, sending his opponent in circles. Right when Pikachu was about to attack, Aegislash went for it's king shield position, but was halted abruptly when Pikachu chucked a piece of wood in between the blade and the handle on the shield. The audience was sent into surprise at Ash's quick wit. Then a thunderbolt from Pikachu sent Aegislash back to the ground. 

After a change in the battlefield Ash sent out a Noivern and Sawyer sent out a Salamence. "Wow, two dragon types! This should be interesting." As the battle went on, it was clear this match was all about timing and power, and in the end they were both too equal and it resulted in a double knock-out. Next Saywer release a Slurpuff, and Ash sent out a Goodra. "Huh? Why would Ash send out a dragon type like Goodra? He knows fairies are very effective against dragons." 

"Knowing Ash he must have some sort of reason to bring out Goodra." But yet again, evenly matched power it resulted in another double knock-out, both Goodra and Slurpuff were fainted. "Wow, this is getting crazy." 

"What do you mean "getting", Dad?" Leon retorted with a chuckle. Next up were Sawyer's mega evolvable Sceptile and Ash's partner Pikachu. But with all the damage Pikachu had previously taken, it was only a couple hits until he fainted. 

"Now it's down to the last Pokemon for each side, this is really intense." 

"And his next Pokemon is without a doubt going to be Greninja." And Sycamore was proven correct when Greninja was sent out. "Even with Greninja and Ash's...special ability, Sceptile has the type advantage over them. And with their mega evolution it won't get easier." 

"And here they go..." Both trainers brought out their special ability with the...fusion of sorts, and the mega evolution. Both Pokemon attacked each other fiercely, neither of them willing to give the other any sort or advantage. "Marvelous! Ash has truly become one with his Greninja." 

"Yes." 

After battling more and more they both released very powerful attacks at the same time, leaving a cloud of smoke in the field. The whole stadium was silent as they watched the smoke clear. Once it finally did Sceptile was fainted on the ground, which meant that the win went to Ash. As cheering erupted Corina realized she had been holding her breath. "Incredible! That was truly an indescribable match!" 

"The future is bright for these two trainers. It'd make me very happy if there were more trainers just like them in the world." 

"Yeah, I agree completely." Sycamore replied and looked back over to Corina and Leon as they cheered for the wonderful battle. Ash and Alain would now face each other in the finals.


	22. Finals Eve

The whole morning Corina, Leon, and Professor Sycamore were spending time researching what was going on with Ash and Greninja. "I've asked other professors to look into this as well, and none of them know quite what this is." Sycamore commented as he flipped through some books. "It seems crazy to me! How could a Pokemon fuse with it's trainer? Could the bond between them be so strong that that could be possible?" Corina expanded as she glazed over some titles in the shelves. "Wait a moment..." Leon muttered as he held a dusty book in his hands. "Find something?" Corina asked, hopping off her ladder and rushing to look over her friend's shoulder, with his father on the other side. "This chapter mentions something about the "Bond Phenomenon". Something special that happens when trust between a Pokemon and its trainer is so strong." He handed her the book and found more information on his tablet, allowing her to read the pages out loud. "It's a rare phenomenon that happens between trainer and Pokemon when the bond of trust between them grows. In addition, it appears the Pokemon's latent skills matter too." 

"This is great! We have to go find Ash and tell him about this right away, I'm sure he and his friends are curious about what this is as well." Sycamore stood, tablet in hand, "Let's not waste time, I'm sure Ash is preparing for his bout with Alain in the finals." 

The three arrived at the Pokemon center to find Ash and his friends sitting in the lounge. "Ash! Hello! Planning for tomorrow?" Sycamore called as the two reached them. "Professor Sycamore! Leon! Corina!" Ash greeted them excitedly. "What's this?" The two looked over and Corina smiled widely. "Mairin!" 

"Corina! Professor! Leon!" She rushed up to them and hugged Corina, and the teenager hugged back happily. "Good to see you." The Professor greeted her as well once the two girls parted "Are you here to cheer for Alain?" Leon asked, "You're Alain's friend!?" Ash asked surprised, apparently not knowing. Mairin giggled awkwardly and Corina nodded. "See, Mairin and Alain used to travel together, and that's how I met up with them." 

"Have you seen Alain already?" The Professor asked. "No, not yet. I'll see him after the finals are over. I know he's gotta concentrate. Don't wanna bother him. There'll be plenty of time to bother him later!" Corina and Leon laughed. "By the way, why are you both here?" Clemont asked from behind Ash. "Well, we've been doing quite a bit of research, and we found something interesting about Greninja's powers." Leon replied as the Professor held out his tablet. "We were looking at this old manuscript, and we found something. Look at this." He set the tablet down in front of Ash. "They call it the Bond Phenomenon." 

"Bond Phenomenon?" Ash repeated as everyone leaned over the tablet to get a better look. "Here's what it says: It's a rare phenomenon that happens between trainer and Pokemon when the bond of trust between them grows. In addition, it appears the Pokemon's latent skills matter too." 

"So it's not something that happens to just any Pokemon." Corina clarified. "Then that means Greninja is special, huh?" Ash asked, looking back up at them. "I remember saying how Greninja chose you right from the beginning. At the same time, Greninja may have been aware of its many latent skills all along. It may have known you, Ash, would be the one who can draw out its true powers. Perhaps your encounter was truly meant to be." 

"Yeah..." Ash replied, deep in thought. "Well, I should be heading back to the lab, it is getting late." 

"If you don't mind, Professor, I'd like to stay here a while?"

"Me too, Dad." He nodded, bade everyone goodnight and left the kids. 

After talking for a while Mairin realized just how late it was, and realized now would be the time to rejoin Lysandre.

She, Corina, Serena, and Bonnie all walked her outside. "Thanks, I'll be fine from here on." Mairin stopped them. "Stay with us, please? We want to talk with you more!" Bonnie pleaded and Serena nodded. "But Lysandre's waiting for me! And I'd really rather not bump into Alain." At his mention Corina frowned a bit. And the way she acted around Clemont's Chespin didn't make Corina feel that much better. "One thing, Mairin." Serena caught her attention. "If there's anything we can do, just let us know. We'll do whatever we can to help." 

"We sure will!" Bonnie agreed. "Right, you know you can always come to me, Mairin." Corina chimed in. "Good luck. I hope Chespie gets well soon." 

"Chespie's gonna be fine. It'll get better soon. I'm sure of that." 

"When it gets better, please bring your Chespie over. To play with Chespin!" 

"Thanks a lot, you guys. I will. See you soon!" Mairin rushed up the stairs and disappeared in the dark.

They started to head back inside when Serena turned to Corina. "Corina?"

"Yeah?" 

"Why did Mairin seem reluctant to see Alain? If you used to travel together, aren't you friends?" Corina sighed as she remembered. "Everything was fine until Alain decided to leave. Made up some nonsense about needing to train on his own. He left right around when Chespie fell asleep. Neither of us really want to see him just yet." Corina explained vaguely. "Well, I should head back to the lab, I'll see you both tomorrow at the finals! Wish Ash good luck for me!" 

Corina and Leon walked back into the lab, but to find that the Professor had not yet come back. "Where could he have gone? Did he make a stop on the way home?" Corina asked her friend, "I don't know, he didn't tell me he was going anywhere." 

"Maybe we should go out and-" Suddenly the front doors open and shut. "Professor!" 

"Dad!"

"Oh Hello! You're back already, I didn't mean for you two to get here before me." 

"Where were you? Are you alright?" 

"Oh yes, I'm just fine. I actually went to go see Alain." 

"Alain?" the teenagers repeated in unison. "Yes, he was preparing for tomorrow. Didn't seem nervous at all." 

"Wh-What did he talk about?" Corina asked, trying to act uninterested. The Professor chuckled, seeing right through her. "He said some rather interesting things." 

"Like what?" 

"He asked me if I was angry with him for not coming back, to which I replied no. But he still felt the need to explain himself, so he told me there were people out there who would do anything to get their hands on what he and Lysandre were researching, so he did it to protect me."

"That's what he told you?" 

"He asked about you too, Corina." 

"He-He did?" 

"Yes." Sycamore smiled coyly and Leon began snickering. "Well what did he say?" 

"He asked if you were angry with him." 

"And what did you say?" She asked, frustrated that he was withholding details from her. "I told him the truth: Yes, but she'll get over it in time. And she'll be rooting for you tomorrow." 

"That was only partly true and you know it." Corina huffed and Sycamore walked past her. "Was it?" She turned to head for the stairs and saw Leon was suppressing a laugh. "What are you smiling at." 

"Nothing. Just the obvious fact that you still like him." He teased and she felt herself blush. She crossed her arms and headed for the stairs. "I'm going to bed!" 

"Goodnight, luvdisc!" 

"Shut up, Leon!" He laughed as she walked into her guestroom.


	23. The Finals Hour

The next morning was absolutely beautiful and the stadium was packed with thousands of people anxious to watch the final battle between Ash and Alain. Corina sat in her spot beside Professor Sycamore and Leon, anxiously shifting every few seconds and messing with her clothes and hair. "Corina, settle down." Sycamore told her, not even looking her direction. "Alain will be just fine, you need to relax." 

"I just wish the match would start already..." 

The two trainers walked down the tunnels and the stands cheered wildly for both of them. 

The battle finally started and Ash sent out his trusty Pikachu and Alain started with a Tyranitar which send a bristling sandstorm across the field. "Who knew Alain has a Tyranitar." 

"I'm surprised he's not using Charizard, but I'm sure he must be saving him for later." It didn't take a long time for Ash to realize that by using iron tail on the water, the water would stop the sandstorm. "Ash sure it clever, neither of them is simply going to hand this battle over." Then with a powerful electro-ball Tyranitar was sent to the ground, giving the first round to Ash. "Ash has really been on fire since the semifinals." Diantha commented. "But Alain won't let himself be beaten that easily, even if Ash got the advantage with the first win." 

Next up Ash brought Pikachu in for a rest and Alain sent out Weavile. Corina cocked her head a bit as she watched Alain. His energy was different from his previous battles. The tone of his voice, the way he threw the Pokeball, and the look on his face were all different. Was it simply because he was so close to winning the finals, or was it something more? Even at a disadvantage, Ash put up a good fight until Noivern was eventually defeated with an ice beam and night slash. Ash rushed over onto the field to make sure Noivern was okay, and his Hawlucha released himself from his Pokeball to check as well. It was obvious the two were very close. Ash returned Noivern and allowed Hawlucha to stay out and fight. 

The two thrashed around each other, both of them hardly able to hit the other. Eventually their attacks led them into the river and Weavile froze the ice around Hawlucha, sending it off balance. But when Alain commanded more attacks, instead of dodging them, Hawlucha took them right on, using the ice to reduce any damage and allowing itself to get fired up. Alain saw this as an extensive challenge and told Weavile to use night slash again, but Hawlucha wrapped its opponent with its legs and threw Weavile down, before forcing it with a flying press, meaning the end for Weavile. Next up for Alain was Bisharp. Right off the bat Bisharp inhibited Hawlucha's movements with a thunder wave. Then a powerful guillotine attack fainted Hawlucha. Alain returned Bisharp and sent out Unfezant while Ash sent out Talonflame. With two flying Pokemon they soared high above the stadium and exchanged many moves, trying to knock the other one out of the sky. But when sky attack and brave bird collided head on, both were sent out of the running when they each crashed to the ground. "Wow, this is some battle." 

"I agree, Ash and Alain are very evenly matched. 

As the crowd waited for the next field to rise up, Corina watched both of them carefully, and when she looked at Alain she couldn't help but smile. "Professor, look. He's smiling. Alain's smiling." 

"Yes he is." 

"I haven't seen him smile since he left." 

When the next field appeared Ash sent out Pikachu yet again and Alain released his Metagross. The steel type used agility to get away from Pikachu's attacks, and it was surprisingly fast. Whenever Pikachu turned Metagross was right there in front of him. "Wow! I've never seen such a bulky Pokemon move so quickly!" 

Ash seemed to be struggling with handling such a surprisingly quick opponent, but he soon commanded Pikachu to jump on top of Metagross and use thunderbolt while Metagross tried desperately to shake him off. Soon enough Metagross was able to shake Piakchu off, but its moment of glory didn't last forever when Pikachu slammed it down with an iron tail. 

"Talk about a surprise." 

"It's not over until it's over. I think Ash can still pull this battle off." Said Sycamore and Diantha, both on the edge of their seats. Alain returned Metagross and sent out Charizard. "Alain is down to business now, he's not gonna let Ash pull anything more on him." 

Ash and Alain were really getting into it now, and so were their partners even though the previous battle had obviously taken a toll on Pikachu. Unfortunately it didn't take too long for Pikachu to faint, leaving him to send out Goodra next. Alain returned Charizard and he sent out Bisharp once more. Ash's Goodra used rain dance and it started to pour on the field. They both were very strong, and there was a moment Corina though Bisharp wasn't going to make it through, but with a powerful guillotine Goodra fainted. Next up was the big headline, the one everyone was waiting for: Greninja.

With one water shuriken Bisharp was wiped out and it came down to Charizard and Greninja, both Pokemon with amazing power. When the rain stopped Corina could tell Ash and Greninja were at their fusing point, the bond phenomenon was coming into effect. Finally, the two fused together and the crowd went wild. Corina looked over as Alain touched his key stone, sending his partner in mega evolution. "This is a real Alain battle now. Both sides going to their fullest form of power." 

Both sides attacked with everything they had, matching move after move and hitting each other continually. It was near the end of the battle that Corina could tell that their energy was changing, both sides were different. Both of them wanted to win so bad that they were doing anything they could to get the upper hand. Finally they both launched their most powerful attack, and suddenly on collision there was a huge explosion that shook the whole stadium. Everything was dead silent as the crowds waited for the smoke to clear. Corina had stood up, watching breathlessly and wide-eyed as the smoke vanished and both Pokemon were standing, but neither moving. There was still no sound. Charizard stumbled, but Greninja fell to the ground and reverted to it's normal state.

"Greninja is unable to battle! Charizard wins! Alain is the champion!" The crowd roared in cheers and Corina felt the relief flood her and she cheered for Alain. 

The awards ceremony and Corina stood beside the Professor and Leon on the stage as Diantha awarded him the trophy and Ash congratulated him. Everything was going smoothly until what appeared to be tentacle like roots coated black and red burst through the stadium, over the top they could see smoke coming from the city. Everyone was screaming and Corina felt her heart beating faster, unsure if what she was looking at was real. What was going on?


	24. Lumiose in Ruins?

Next thing Corina knew she was running through the vine infested halls of the stadium with Ash, and Alain, trying to weave around the roots as best she could. "Where's Mairin?" Alain asked. "During the finals, she didn't want to get in your way. She asked me not to tell you." 

"She's always overthinking these things." 

"Not surprising, after what you said." Corina shot at him, maybe more vicious than appropriate. "At a time like this, I guess I can ask: Is Mairin important to you, Alain?" 

"Yeah." He stammered. "Let's go find her! We'll help you look." They finally exited the stadium and looked around at the city in ruins. "They're out here also." 

"They're everywhere." 

"Ash!" They looked over to see Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie all running up to them. "There you are!" 

"Are you all okay?" 

"Yeah, we're doing fine." 

"Ash, Squishy disappeared. It ran off somewhere." Corina guessed Squishy was a Pokemon Bonnie had with her. Suddenly a woman's voice came over the PA system: "Giant, mysterious, creeping vines are overrunning the city. There has been major damage centered around Prism Tower. Avoid that area during evacuation." They all looked down at Prism Tower to see extremely thick vines wrapping around it. "Again, there has been major damage around Prism Tower. Avoid that area." 

"What's that?" Clemont asked, worry in his voice as they noticed some creature shining on the edge of the tower. "It's glowing." 

"Could it be...Zygarde?" Alain wondered aloud and Corina looked over at him. "Zygarde? How could that be!? And why?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"Those vines are the work of Zygarde for sure." 

"How can you be certain, Alain?" He didn't answer, but instead Bonnie turned to her brother. "Squishy's heading over to Prism Tower!" 

"What? Are you sure?" 

"Yeah. I'm sure of it." She turned and started racing in that direction. "Bonnie! Wait!" Clemont tried to stop her. "Go! We'll catch up with you guys a little bit later!" 

"What about you?" 

"I'm going with Alain, Leon, and Corina to find Mairin." 

"But--" Serena was cut off. "I'll see you as soon as we find her." They started running off when Clomont tossed Ash some kind of communication device. "Take this! It's a communicator! I thought we'd encounter a situation just precisely like this one. It's not that powerful, but should come in handy." The trainers bid them farewell and ran off to find Mairin. "You should go with them." Alain said to her as they ran. "Not a chance, I'm going with you to find her and that's that." 

Meanwhile outside of the stadium Leon and Professor Sycamore were directing people out of the arena. "Everyone! That way!" the Professor pointed. "Come on, hurry!" Leon encouraged them along as another vine sprung from the ground right in front of the boy. "Leon!" Sycamore pulled his son out of the way as rubble filled the air. They both backed safely away, with the Professor still gripping his son's arm protectively. "This is what Olympia foresaw, she predicted this was going to happen." The Professor said, his eyes wide. "We have to go find more people and help them." 

"No Leon, you go find Officer Jenny, she'll get you somewhere safe." 

"Dad--" 

"This is very dangerous, Leon. I don't want to lose you." 

"If this is so dangerous, then I'm staying by your side." His father could see that Leon wasn't going to bend on this and nodded, with a hint of a smile. "Then stay close." He placed a hand on his son's shoulder and they both ran off. 

The trainers kept running around, both Alain, and Corina shouting Mairin's name until they heard a reply coming from a balcony next to the stadium. "Mairin!" They looked up at her, relief flooded Corina when she saw the girl was unharmed. "Mairin! Over here! We need to get to Prism Tower!" Just as Ash finished another vine burst up right between them, cutting off their view, but all they heard was Mairin screaming. "I'll save you! Go Charizard!" 

"Hold on, Mairin! Come on, Arbor!" They attacked the vines, but even more would come up in it's place. No matter what they did there were always more. They attacked again, but suddenly an attack was thrown at them by a Pokemon standing on one of the vines. They looked up and there was a woman with purple hair, lipstick, and glasses in a Team Flare uniform standing next to a Drapion. "Okay, pay attention!" Arbor stepped in front of Corina protectively. "Are you finally ready to listen?" 

"I know you! You were hunting for Squishy!" Ash shouted. "Wonderful. You remembered." The woman seemed pleased. "But today, I'm after something different." She pointed to Ash. "Now I'm after you." 

"After me..?" 

"What do you mean!?" Alain asked. "Lysandre's orders." She replied plainly. "Alain, wait. Do you know who she is?" Ash asked. Alain's posture changed, but he stared at the ground, Corina and Leon looked over at him as well. "Alain?" Corina probed, but the woman cut in. "Does he know me? Of coarse he does! We're colleagues." Corina could hardly believe her ears. "You're working with the ones chasing Squishy?" 

"Alain...What is she talking about?" Corina asked, her voice shaking. Again, Alain said nothing. "Lysandre wants to see you now, so come with me right away. My associate has gone after "Squishy". Let's get moving, Alain." She ordered him. Corina took a few steps away from Alain and stared at him with tears brimming her eyes. "Alain. Whatever she's saying, don't listen to it. Let's go." Ash grabbed Alain's wrist, but Alain pulled free, yet still said nothing. Suddenly two Team Flare grunts jumped up behind them, each with a houndour. "Now, Drapion, confuse ray!" They used it on Ash first. "Alain! How are you letting them do this!?" Corina shrieked at him, and right when they turned to her to attack her and Arbor next she turned and climbed up the vines with Arbor hot on her trail. 

She ran. She kept running until she was out of breath, and sure the grunts weren't following her. She wasn't one of the ones they were after anyway. She found a silent place and leaned up against a building. Suddenly she felt weak and felt tears swell in her eyes before flowing over. "Sceep? Sceeptile?" Arbor stepped over to her, but Corina just kept crying. How could Alain do this? After everything, why would he work with Team Flare!? How could he lie to her? To the Professor? To Leon? To Mairin? "Sce! Sceptile!" Arbor turned back to the direction they came and looked like he was going to give Alain a piece of his mind. "No Arbor..." 

"Sce?" 

"Just leave it. If he wants to be like this let him, we've got to do something to stop what's going on. Let's find Mairin and Professor Sycamore...or Ash's friends...someone." She wiped her red face and marched off, Arbor walking by her side. Corina had a rare serious look on her face as she marched on, it was obvious her mind was somewhere else. 

Three years ago Corina was walking home to the bakery with Eda as a Flaafy when two girls stopped her. "Well look who it is! It's the professor's pet!" At the sound of her old nickname she turned to see two of her old classmates. Two girls: One was blonde with pale skin and vibrant blue green eyes that had a wicked sheen. The other had brownish skin with dark brown waxy hair and deep eyes. "What a surprise we'd see you here, loser." The dark haired one said sarcastically and Corina took a few steps back, unsure what to say. "Daddy still keeping you cooped up in the city, huh? Meanwhile we both just finished our journeys." 

"Yeah. We were top Contest competitors, that's more than you've ever done." 

"Or ever will do." They cackled and Corina felt tears building up. "Awww poor professor's pet is gonna cry!" 

"Hey!" They stopped laughing and looked over to see Alain marching towards them, glaring daggers with his bright blue eyes. He stood in front of Corina. "Is there a problem here?" The two girls seemed startled, knowing what a good battler he was. "N-No! Come on Jessie, let's go." The dark haired one rushed off with the blonde one, leaving Corina and Alain standing there. He turned to her and noticed she was trying not to cry. "Are you okay?" 

"Y-Yeah. Thanks, Alain. But you didn't have to do that." 

"I couldn't let those two just pick on you." His eyes softened a bit. "Hey, you shouldn't cry. It doesn't suit you." 

She was snapped out of her daze when a voice echoed through the streets, she looked up at a some screens in a shop and saw Lysandre there. "To my beloved Kalos region and the entire world...I am Lysandre. Team Flare is with me to do my bidding. I have an announcement. We are here to remake the world into a place of pure beauty and peace." She looked into his cold gray eyes and felt nothing but anger. This was a man she trusted with Mairin and Chespie. "Team Flare's purpose is to transform our world into an exquisite example of creation." The screen cut to a view of the Zygarde on Prism Tower, although something was odd about it. "This pokemon's name is Zygarde, a legendary pokemon who will preside over the new order of the Kalos region. So, as leaders of this new order, we have decided to join forces with this powerful guardian of creation. Zygarde is angry at the behavior of both people and pokemon." The screen cut back to his unchanging face. "The discipline of this world has been lost. Humanity is out of control. We have forgotten how to share. Without sharing, people begin to steal from each other. When that happens, there is not enough for anyone. In order to live in peace without stealing, we must reduce the number of beings on this planet. Only the chosen ones will move into our bright, hopeful future. We of Team Flare, along with the fury of Zygarde, will be the ones who will make that judgement. The new order will do away with the chaos of the world and bring about the beautiful future we desire." Then it cut out. 

Corina looked over at Arbor, clear confusion and worry on both their faces. "The nerve!" Her confusion turned to anger. "Who gave him the right! Come on, Arbor. We have to find someone and head to Prism Tower." 

"Scep! Sceptile!" He nodded and they both kept walking until they heard the sound of oncoming footsteps from the other side of some vines. The footsteps stopped and they heard muffled voices. The two carefully looked over the top of the vines and Corina felt relief. "Mairin! Professor! Leon!" She slid down the vines and they all looked over. "Corina!" They shouted in unison. "Are you guys okay?" She asked. "We're fine, how about you?" 

"I've had better days." Corina decided not to tell them what she learned about Alain. They wouldn't be able to take it. "What about Alain and Ash?" 

"You've seen them?" The professor asked. "They were with Corina, they were talking about Prism Tower." 

"Corina, what happened?" 

"They were taken by Team Flare. I was barely able to get away in time." 

"I see." They all looked over to Prism Tower. "He and Ash may be in grave danger. We need to head there now, all of you stay close." 

"I'm worried, Professor, about all that stuff Lysandre was saying." 

"Yes, we have to be careful and find out what's really going on." Corina put a hand on Mairin's back. "Don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of this and save them."


	25. Old Friends and More Enemies

Corina, Professor Sycamore, Leon, and Mairin rushed to Prism Tower just in time for Tumi, Leon's partner, a blastoise, to stop a Team Flare druddigon from attacking Clemont and Bonnie. "That was a close one." 

"Professor Sycamore! Leon!" 

"Mairin! Corina!" 

"Is everyone okay?" Leon wasn't answered when Mairin drew their attention to something behind them. "Guys, look." They turned and Corina could hardly believe her eyes when she saw two Zygardes - one green and one red - facing off against each other. The three of them moved over with the rest of the group and watched the two of them. Suddenly one of the Team Flare women commanded her Liepard to use shadow claw, but Blazakin Mask was able to stop them in time. Then Clemont and his robot released a chespin, bunnelby, luxray, and heleolisk to the battle. Corina stayed back with Serena, Mairin, Leon, and Professor Sycamore, seeing the others had this battle under control. 

"Serena, did you see Alain and Ash?" Mairin asked "They said they were going to Prism Tower." Corina frowned at her, knowing something she didn't. "Not yet. I haven't seen them." 

"If something bad happened..." 

"You don't have to worry about Alain and Ash, you know they're both strong." Serena smiled, but it didn't seem to have any affect on Mairin as she started to tear up. "Huh?" 

"I'm still so worried about Chespie, too." Corina remembered that Chespie was still at Lysandre Labs, and her heart skipped a few beats. "Mairin? Chespie is at Lysandre Labs, right?" 

"Yeah, right." 

"Clemont?" They looked over, and the boy seemed to hear everything "Of coarse you should go! Don't worry. We can handle everything around here. Take care of Mairin and Chespie." 

"Clemont, thanks! Let's go, Chespie needs us." 

"Okay!" 

"Count me in on this, Chespie won't be in danger if I have anything to say about it." 

"I'll go too. I've got a car at the back of the lab." Suddenly a dark pulse came out of nowhere and hit them. "I don't know what you're up to, but we will not be ignored! Liepard, shadow claw!" The one with green hair shouted. "Eda, dragon pulse!" Corina combated the attack before it even got close. "Nice job, Corina!" She and Professor Sycamore returned their partners and ran off. 

They were racing towards the lab when three people on a TV crew jumped in their way. "What are you doing in such a dangerous place?" The one with long pink hair asked. "We have to go to Lysandre Labs. My precious Chespie is there." 

"You jest! Why, that's terrible!" The lightman with blue hair replied. "So step on the gas." 

"We happen to be from Lumiose City TV! Perfect timing! Where to? We'll whisk you there in our news copter." They gestured over to a helicopter beside them. These people were..odd but she wasn't about to object to a quick, free, and easy way to Lysandre Labs. "That's be a big help!" 

]  
"Thank so much!" 

"Think nothing of it. A friend in need is a friend indeed." They all piled into the helicopter and zoomed away over Lumiose City as the sun set in the west. It was almost beautiful if it weren't for the circumstances.

They finally reached the coastline where Lysandre Labs sat far away from all the danger in Lumiose City and Corina could feel her adrenaline pumping. "Someone's there!" The pilot shouted and they all looked out to see a Team Flare admin with blue accents and a Weavile standing there.

Alain has a Weavile. 

Corina shook her head, she needed to keep her head in the game. Chunks of ice were shot at them and they pulled away sharply to avoid them and she held on for dear life, this is why she was so afraid of flying. Serena unbuckled her seat belt and released her Braixen before opening the hatch. "Braixen, ready?" 

"Braixen!" 

"Weavile! Use Ice Shard!"

"Use flamethrower!" The two moves created and explosion and Corina smiled a little, she had gotten better since the last time they met. "Icy wind, go!" The wind blew the chopper away and an alarm began to sound. Suddenly it stopped when Weavile was attacked. They all looked out the window and Corina smiled widely as she recognized the man standing serenely on his shiny mega metagross. "Steven Stone!" Corina shouted excitedly. Steven was set down gently, his hands casually in his pockets. "Use meteor mash!" 

The helicopter landed a ways away and they could tell Steven's attack set fire to one of the buildings, and there were more grunts ready to battle along with the blue haired woman. "Steven!" Mairin and Corina shouted in unison as they jumped off the helicopter. "We're happy you're here." The four rushed up to him. "Well, I'm glad that I came to check on things before going to Prism Tower." 

"Mairin's Chespin is inside." Sycamore said, "And the Giant Rock." Corina added. "Right." His attitude shifted from cocky to serious. "I'll handle this. Get going." 

"Right."

"Be careful." They raced inside, they were confident Steven - the Hoenn champion - could handle these thugs.

Mairin led the way, as the TV crew trailed behind, catching every moment on tape. They all hugged the sides when a Drapion used mud shot, but the TV crew wasn't as lucky. "Are you all right?" Serena asked, but before they could reply the Team Flare woman with purple accents who attacked them. Corina recognized her as the woman she encountered with Ash and Alain. Subconsciously she grit her teeth and clenched her fists. "Come on, you need prior approval for an interview." 

"Why you!" 

"Who do you think you are!?" 

"Your glasses are choking your brain!" the crew was really getting riled up. They suddenly threw off their clothes to reveal a uniform underneath and Corina was shocked when she remembered Team Rocket. "Team Rocket!" 

"You keep appearing like a bad dream." The Team Flare woman sounded exhausted with them. "Now get going."

"Go and save your precious pokemon." They were confused, Team Rocket was on their side? Mairin nodded. "Any enemy of our enemy is a good buddy to us!" 

"We have no intention of handing this world over to you thugs." 

"It's a Team Rocket world."

"It's really the Boss' world!"

"Stop the babble. It's so boring." 

"I know you are~. Gourgeist, use seed bomb!" 

"Inkay, use psybeam!" They released their pokemon. Their battle started and the four of them slipped down the hall. This place seemed like an endless maze, but Mairin found her way around very easily and it didn't take long for them to reach Chespie's room. Sycamore and Mairin went inside while Serena, Leon, and Corina battled away Team Flare grunts outside. 

Serena was using her Pancham, her Sylveon, and her Braixen while Corina was using Mega Arbor and Lani, and Leon was using Tumi and Rose, his audino. "They don't give up, do they?" Lani turned to Corina and the two made eye contact, right away Corina knew what she wanted. She reached into her bag and felt the freezing cold touch of the Ice Stone, she pulled it out and held it to her Alolan Vulpix who touched it with her nose and began to evolve. The transformation was complete and she awed at the beauty of the Ice and Fairy type. "Lani, Ice Beam! Arbor, Energy ball!" As her pokemon attacked she looked behind her and smiled a little at the fact Chespie was unharmed, but still had that odd green aura. Then all of the grunts began to glow and were lifted up above them. "Now, come on. You don't really want to get hurt, do you?" Steven asked rhetorically as he glanced up at them. Corina smiled and returned her pokemon.


	26. Fate Hangs in the Balance

They all were in an elevator at Lysadnre Labs, waiting for it to reach the very bottom floor when Serena pulled out her communicator and called Ash. "Ash?" She sounded so worried about him. "Serena, where are you guys now?" His voice was static-y. "We're at Lysandre Labs, and we just rescued Chespie. Professor Sycamore, Corina, Leon, and Steven Stone are here with us at the lab as well." 

"Mairin! Leon! Corina! Are you there?" Alain's voice came over the speaker and Corina stiffened. If he was on Team Flare why was he with Ash? "I'm here! With Chespie!" Corina didn't reply. "Are you okay, Alain?" Leon asked, worry in his tone, "I'm fine. How are all?" 

"I'm fine. Chespie is safe too." 

"Ash, what's your location?" 

"We're at the top of Prism Tower." he replied as the elevator finally reached the bottom floor. "Could I ask you to go to the gym? It's Clemont." Corina stopped looking when she turned and saw the Giant Rock in a case in the center of the room. It was different from when she last saw it. Something was wrong. 

They all exited and right away Steven and Corina rushed to the control panel. "What are you two doing?" Serena asked. "I'm finding out what kind of research was being conducted here." Steven replied when they found a file and opened it. "Oh my..." 

"What is it?" Professor Sycamore asked when the Giant Rock started acting up. It and Chespie turned an ominous shade of red and began to glow. "What happened?" 

Suddenly the casing broke and Corina rushed over to Mairin, trying to shield her from most of the damage. When the smoke cleared Chespie started being pulled towards the rock, despite Mairin's best efforts to keep the small grass type in her arms. "Chespie!" When the force was too strong it floated over to the giant rock, and was somehow absorbed into it. The room began to shake and crumble, but Mairin ran for the rock. "Chespie!" 

"Mairin, No!" Corina held her back, "But Chespie disappeared!" 

"Mairin, this whole place is coming down, we have to go!" She pleaded. Suddenly the Giant Rock began to take shape into what looked like Zygarde, and as it kept growing the room fell apart quicker. "Chespie! No!" Corina grabbed the girl's hand, "We have to leave, now!" She pulled her outside in the nick of time. 

The six of them watched a long ways away as the building of Lysandre Labs crumbled and fell to the ground, large vines like the ones in Lumiose City and the Rock Zygarde taking its place. "Chespie..." Corina hugged Mairin tighter to try and comfort her. "Professor Sycamore, what's happening?" Serena asked. "I have no idea. Is the Giant Rock involved?"

"Involved? I'm certain the Giant Rock is the source." Steven replied. "Anything can happen now." 

They watched this play on Zygarde from Steven's helicopter, one Corina hadn't been in since the Hoenn Legendaries went after the Giant Rock. "Listen, I want to tell you what I know about the Giant Rock." Professor Sycamore stood beside his son, Corina, and Steven in front of the monitor. "When we scanned it, we discovered it's a giant mass of energy. A mass of energy that strongly resembles Zygarde's." 

"In addition, we picked up Chespie's vital signs from within its core." 

"And we retrieved Chespie's records located in the Lab's database." Steven added. "According to those records, an accident caused Chespie to absorb some of Zygarde's energy." Corina said as she thought back to when Mairin told them back at the labs that she wanted to be alone. "We think that the Giant Rock absorbed Chespie in order to obtain that energy." 

"But now the Giant Rock is in search for its next energy source." Corina said and pulled up a map on the screen of the direction the Giant Rock was headed. "It's Anistar City." 

"It's headed towards the sundial." Steven inferred "The sundial is a giant crystal said to have come from space. We know that the energy it contains is the very same energy pokemon emit when they're experiencing mega evolution." 

"Let's say the Giant Rock is drawn toward that energy, why that energy though?" 

"I know why. If the Giant Rock and the sundial come in direct contact, and then merge as a result..." He trailed off, letting the screen show the rest. Corina felt herself become queasy at the sight of the whole world turning red. "Then that means...!" Serena hugged Mairin tightly. "It means the end of the world." Sycamore was the one who said what they all had just realized. "Lysandre, recreating the world at any cost." Alain growled. "We won't let that happen! Professor, we gotta rescue Chespie and stop the Giant Rock right away! We can, and we will." Ash sounded determined. "Okay. We're with you." Serena smiled and Corina noticed something in the girl's blue eyes and smiled. "Awesome!" There was a small moment of silence. "Mairin." Alain began, "I promise, I'm going to save Chespie!" 

Steven pressed the button on the side of the door and suddenly bristling winds swept past them and Corina held on to the top for dear life, with Steven, Sycamore, and Leo on either side of her. "Are you ready to go?" 

"Yeah." 

"Ready as I'll ever be." Corina reached for a pokeball as she held on with one hand. "We wanna come and help too!" Serena volunteered "If we don't, the world will end! And I can't bear the thought of that happening." She nodded, then turned back to face the giant rock. "Now, Metagross go!" 

"Now, Garchomp go!" 

"Come on, Hermes!" 

"Braixen, come out!" "Come on, Jaylin!" Leon released his male meowstic. Corina, Steven, and Professor Sycamore all three mega evolved their pokemon at the same time. Braixen jumped on top of Mega Metagross and they all flew in closer to the Giant Rock. "Flash Cannon!" 

"Dragon Pulse" 

"Dazzling Gleam!" 

"Flamethrower." But all the moves were blocked by giant vines by the Giant Rock. Suddenly Garchomp was wrapped up in vines, distracting the others and they were all caught up in traps. "Hermes! come on, hang in there!" Braixen fell off Metagross and was falling to the ground when it was suddenly saved. Upon closer inspection it was Alain's Charizard and Ash's Pikachu. "Charizard." 

"And Pikachu." Corina couldn't help but smile when she saw the other helicopter and realized that Alain must have made the right choice. "Alain!" She smiled with slight relief, although some part of her was still angry with him. Charizard and Pikachu cut the other pokemon free from the binds. "Professor, do you know Chespie's exact location?" Clemont asked, "The scan shows Chespie is somewhere in its core. Once Ash explained that he and Greninja "saw" Chespie within the Giant Rock, they prepared for attack. "Ash, are you sure?" Professor Sycamore asked. "Of coarse, just give us a chance." Greninja jumped out of the helicopter towards the crystal Zygarde. "Make sure you've got Greninja's back, Pikachu!" 

"Charizard, you do the same as well!" 

"We've gotta help Ash the best we can!" Corina called to Hermes. "That includes you, Metagross!" All the pokemon headed straight for the Giant Rock. Greninja threw a water shuriken at the Rock's center. "Right down there! Chespie's down under that water shuriken! Everyone, head over there!" 

The Giant Rock threw vines out at all the pokemon, doing everything in its ability to capture the pokemon again, while the trainers commanded attacks. "It's endless." 

"At this rate, we won't even be able to get close." Then, one by one all the pokemon were bound up. "Hermes! No!" Suddenly an attack came out of nowhere and struck the Giant Rock with great force, almost blinding the trainers. All the pokemon were released and they looked over and smiled as they recognized all the gym leaders, plus Malva of the Elite Four and Diantha the former Champion. But apparently that attack did practically nothing to slow down this massive "creature". 

They all landed and met up with the gym leaders and other trainers, their partners out beside them. "We all know the situation." Diantha began "Rescuing Chespie is our first priority." 

"Right. Let's use the pokemon's moves to get into the Giant Rock. The target is there," they all looked to the oncoming crystal Zygarde. "that water shuriken." 

"We'll attack with our combined power." 

"It is a sincere honor to battle alongside you." 

"Steven, the honor is all mine." 

"We couldn't've asked for a stronger group for help, thank you." 

They all stood in a line-up, they were the last thing between the Giant Rock and Anistar City. Corina stood beside Steven and felt her hands begin to shake. This had better work. "Everyone, you're looking at the final line of defense. We cannot let it come in contact with the sundial, remember that at all times." 

She took a deep breath and Steven lay a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and he nodded at her, she nodded back. "Corina, we can do this." 

"You're right. I know we can." She glanced behind her and saw Alain bidding farewell to Mairin. She realized if this went poorly, her last interaction with him would be her screaming at him. 

She couldn't let this go poorly.


	27. Is It Over?

The trainers raced towards the water shuriken. Corina could feel her blood pumping loud in her ears as they got closer and closer. She wasn't sure if this was going to work, but they had to do something. Her Ampharos was mega evolved and running at her side, the two of them would have to use all their power. "Everyone head towards the water shuriken! That's where Chespie is! We've got to save Chespie first!" Diantha reminded them. The Giant Rock threw more vines at them as they got closer and closer. "Eda! Thunderbolt!" 

She had a hard time running along the vines, especially when everyone around them was being captured, but their top priority was making sure Ash and Alain made it to the rock's core, that was the only way to stop this. "Dragon Pulse!" Soon she found herself running alongside the professor, Malva, Steven and Diantha. They were the last few left to help Ash and Alain. "Dragon Pulse, Eda!" 

"Don't let up, use Thunderbolt!" She glanced over and saw Sycamore and Malva had been captured, and in her moment of pause she felt the crushing vines wrap her up too. "AHH!" 

"Corina!" She looked up through the pain and saw Alain looking over at her, slight fear in his eyes. "What are you looking at me for, huh? Keep going, Champion! You promised!" He nodded and turned back around, racing off with Ash. 

She was doing her best to squirm out of the vines, but nothing seemed to work, and she couldn't even reach her other pokeballs for help. She just had to wait. 

Suddenly everything froze. The vines around her let up and she fell a short distance to the ground. Taking a deep breath and double checking that Eda was okay she looked up to the now lifeless Giant Rock and saw Ash and Alain jumping out, with Chespie in their arms. She smiled and sighed with relief. 

Everyone rushed over to meet them and Corina watched Alain gently give Chespie back to Mairin. Corina stood by the girls side and watched her hug her partner tightly. "Chespie, I've got you." 

"Thank you so much." She smiled up at Alain, clearly her voice was breaking. He smiled. "All that's left is what's in front of us." Steven observed, and they all knew they had to blow this thing away. They all lined up and attacked at the very same time. They all morphed into one attack and shot at it together, and it fell backwards. Corina felt a small moment of happiness, but it was short-lived when it bounced right back up, glowing with life once again. Everyone stared in awe, and became even more in shock when a figure walked out on the Giant Rock's head. "It can't be!"

"I know. But how!?" 

"Lysandre." Malva said with a cold bitterness. "Even if you're somehow able to stop me, I will still destroy this world, count on it." Corina snarled at him, what would it take for this guy to give up. "Lysandre. How is he doing this!?" 

"The countdown to destruction will not stop." He held out some sort of device on his arm and they heard the sound of a weapon charging up. "Light Screen, quick!" Valerie commanded her spritzee, protecting them just in time. Everyone slowly got back up and Corina looked around to make sure Eda, Alain, Leon, and Mairin were okay. "Eda, you alright?" 

"Ammmm." Corina dusted off her partner gently. After they all got up, the Giant Rock started advancing once again. "It's moving!" 

"How do we make this stop." Corina asked, more to herself than anything, but Clemont stepped forward. "Everyone listen to me. The power that's moving it has to do with the device on Lysandre's arm." 

"Then it must be destroyed now." 

"That will stop it?" 

"We have to try anything."

"We've got to give it everything we have left. It's our only chance." 

Another attack was launched at them and Corina and Eda clung to each other as best they could, when they weren't being totally blown away they looked up and saw Alain and Charizard blocking most of the blow for them. It stopped and Corina's whole body ached. She wasn't sure how much longer she could go on. 

She looked past him when she heard Bonnie shouting after something. The small Zygarde cores were beginning to glow, sending out what appeared to be a green radar signal. Then, in response, they started glowing brightly as beams of light absorbed into them, making them grow stronger and bigger. Everyone stared in shock as the Zygardes totally changed into a towering, black figure with green, red, and blue designs. "Is that...Zygarde?" 

"It's...incredible." 

"Those deep green eyes. That is it. The Forme when all has become one." 

"And still you hid this Forme? You must have been seeing the world the same way I was. The unlimited greed of humans has sent this world spinning into chaos. Have you not felt that? If I had not raised my objections, the world would continue on its warped path. But now you chose to appear. What could possibly be left to defend? You have no right!" Lysandre had lost it completely, he seemed reaching for Zygarde to come on his side once more. "If it is a right you speak of, this world belongs to them." Zygarde spoke. "I have placed my hopes in humanity. They have always protected me." There seemed to be two voices speaking, it must be the two different cores. "They kept their promise not to leave my side. Now it is my turn!" 

"I will incinerate you!" 

The world shook with their attacks, both of them equally powerful. While he was distracted Ash and Alain attacked Lysandre, breaking his control device off his wrist. "It can't be. It must be a mistake. All of my meticulous planning was perfect!" 

Zygarde attacked once more, breaking the Giant Rock clean through. As it was on the brink, one last attack shattered the Giant Rock, and after a blinding explosion, it was gone, along with Lysandre. Corina felt the exhaustion and slumped to the ground, out of breath. "Ammm? Ampha." 

"We did it, Eda. We saved the world." She smiled, out of breath. When she heard Mairin crying she rushed over with Leon and saw Chespie was opening its eyes. "Chespie, you're awake. You're awake!" She hugged the grass type perhaps a little too close. Then looked over at Professor Sycamore, Alain, Leon, and Corina all approaching her. "Alain." She wiped her eyes and stepped closer. "Look at Chespie." He leaned over and rubbed Chespie's head. "I'm so happy for you." His smile faded, "Mairin?" 

"Hm?" 

"Please forgive me." Corina looked over at him intently. "For everything I did." She shook her head, "Stop. I'm just happy you're all right." 

"And Corina?" He looked over at her, and their green and blue eyes locked. "Do you forgive me?" For a moment she was lost in his sea of blue, but soon snapped out of her daze. "Of coarse I do, Alain." He smiled, and she couldn't help but smile back, tears filling her eyes from pure exhaustion and happiness. "You shouldn't cry, it doesn't suit you." She looked at him surprised, that was exactly what he said to her when he protected her from those bullies. All she did was smile and nod. 

Zygarde lowered itself once again and they all looked up at it. "Squishy! Thanks a lot!" 

"Bonnie, I have only done what you did for me all along. It is I who should thank you, I'm so grateful." Zygarde rose up and sent out it's green aura, sending everything back to the way it was. The sky went from the frightening red to the calm gentleness of the dark blue, sending everything back to normal. Then Zygarde split apart once more, leaving just the two cores behind. Chespie ran up to them, excited. "It's you. I would like to express my gratitude to you as well. Thank you." The core looked over at Clemont's sister. "Bonnie. To have journeyed with you and to have learned about humans from you, I am grateful." 

"Is this goodbye?" 

"I'm tired. I think I'd like to rest in the sun." Bonnie nodded. "I'm glad to have met you." 

"Oh, Squishy. I'm glad I met you too." 

"I'll never forget you, Bonnie." She wiped tears from her eyes and smiled. "I love you, Squishy! I love you!" And just like that, they were gone and the sun began to rise over the horizon. Turning the sky a soft yellow.

Lysandre was right, but not in the way he meant. In his wake, he did create a new world, but one that would be more cautious and prepared for people like him.


	28. Curtains Up on a New Corina!

As the sun rose slowly over Lumiose City, Corina ran through the streets of as fast as she could, she received a message on her phone from her father that he was staying in the pokemon center there after taking shelter in Santalune City. She skid to a stop outside and rushed in. "Dad!? Dad! Da-" 

"Corina!" 

"Dad!" She raced into his arms and hugged him tightly. "Corina! I'm so glad you're safe!"

"I was so worried about you, Daddy." 

"You were worried?" He pulled back from the hug and looked her in the eyes. "I was the one who had to watch you on the news battling that monster!" 

"Are you mad?"

"Mad? I'm just glad my little girl is safe. I couldn't bear to lose you too." He hugged her again. "I'm glad you're safe too." She pulled back again. "How is the apartment?" 

"The cafe went without too much damage, but the apartment isn't in great shape." 

"I'm going to go see it." 

"Are you sure?" 

"Yeah. I'll see you later." She kissed his cheek and rushed over to the old apartment. The cafe down below was a mess, but nothing that couldn't be fixed or replaced. She headed up the stairs and frowned when she saw the condition of the place. She walked down the hall and to her old bedroom and realized she hadn't been in here since the day she left. It felt like it was so long ago now, she had matured so much and now had a team of pokemon by her side. 

The light pink floral wallpaper was torn and the glass of the far window was shattered. The nightstand next to the bed was toppled over and what used to sit on top was thrown about the room. Her alarm clock was broken beyond repair. Her lamp was broken as well. An old picture of her and her father sitting at a picnic with their partners - then Mareep and his Volcarona named Vera - was in a broken frame. Gingerly, she took it out of the frame and set it on the messy bed. She turned around and saw her vanity and mirror had fallen on the floor, the cabinets of the desk had fallen out and their contents strewn about the floor.

Slowly, Corina brought it back up and put the shattered mirror on the desk. As she sat in front of the mirror she frowned, the girl she saw in the mirror was different from the girl she was now. She reached onto the floor and picked up a pair of scissors off the floor. She held her hair back and sliced the blades through her hair. The locks of long pink hair fell to the floor and down her shoulders. Her hair fell back around her face and now went down to the top of her shoulders and accented her face cutely. As she finished the last few touches of her hair she took a deep breath and smiled. Corina went to her wardrobe and shifted through her outfits and placed a few in a bag and left the apartment, heading back to the pokemon center to get some rest. 

In a few days Corina had decided on a new outfit. A white sleeveless shirt with a black collar, a high waisted dark raspberry skirt, black and white stripped leggings, and black boots. Then a raspberry silk choker necklace with her key stone attached. She got a call from Professor Sycamore that morning that Alain was coming back to the lab. Corina and her father had moved back into the apartment, and were finishing renovations. Today was the cafe's opening day after the attack. 

Corina ran up to the lab, already late to see Alain and the others. She knocked on the door and it opened quickly. "Corina!" Professor Sycamore looked at her stunned at the new look. "Morning, Professor!" 

"Come on in!" She stepped in and looked around at the beautiful decorations and smiled. "Wow Corina!" Bonnie smiled "You look so pretty!" 

"Thank you guys!" Corina sat down beside Alain. "Corina.." She looked over at him. "Hm?" 

"Y-You look..different." She chuckled. "Figure that out all on your own?" He became even more flustered "N-No, what I meant is, ya know, I like your new look." She giggled and blushed slightly at how cute he was when he was nervous. "Thanks, Alain." She turned to Mairin. "I love the decorations, did you make these?" 

"Some of them! The others helped a lot too. It was kinda a disaster before they came around." She chuckled "You all did a great job." She looked over when Professor Sycamore started talking to her. "Why the new look, Corina?" 

"Well I've just changed so much on my journey, I wanted the outside to match how I felt on the inside, if that makes sense." 

"It looks very nice." He drank a bit of tea. "How's your father?" 

"Great. He was so happy when he saw I was okay after what happened. I was happy too. The apartment was pretty wrecked and hopefully the renovations will be complete soon. The cafe will be reopening soon." 

"Marvelous! I'll have to stop by!"

"We'd love that, Professor." She smiled. "So," The professor began, turning to the whole group. "Tell me about your plans from here on out." 

"I'm thinking of going back to Kanto. Back to Pallet Town to start over. I mean, completely, like start from the ground up." Corina smiled, typical Ash. "Ground up?" 

"Uh-huh! There are so many strong trainers. I'll begin again." 

"That sounds like something you'd do." Sycamore said with a chuckle. "And you?" He looked over to Corina and she smiled nervously "I'm not sure, I- huh?" She felt something in the pocket of her skirt and pulled it out. It was a small business card from Steven Stone, and she remembered when he gave this to her, offering her a job. "What is it, Corina?" 

"What time is it!?" She looked at her watch and saw she still had time. "I have to go!" She jumped out of her chair and raced for the door "Welcome back, Alain!" Then she was gone in a flash. 

She raced down the street as fast as she could to the fanciest hotel in Lumiose, the one she knew he'd be staying at. She caught him just as he was getting to his car out of his hotel. "Steven!!" He turned when he heard her yelling out his name "Steven! Steven wait up!" His driver looked at her cautiously as she stood in front of the Hoenn Champion totally out of breath. "Corina? Is everything all right?" 

"I...need...to ask....you....a....question..." She said between pants. "I'm all ears." She finally caught her breath and stood up straight. "I was wondering, if, ya know," She held out the business card. "Does your offer still stand?" He looked down at the card and smiled, then looked back up at her. "Of coarse it does. Are you interested now?" 

"Yes sir! Now I'm done with my journey, I'm a new person, and I'm ready to start a new chapter." 

"Hmm. I was going to head out to what's left of Lysander Labs today. Perhaps I can leave in a few days and you can join me." 

"Really? You'd let me start as soon as tomorrow?" 

"Of coarse. You can adjust that quickly, can't you?" 

"Yes sir!" 

"Good. I'll send you the forms you'll need to fill out right away." 

"Thank you so much, sir!" 

"Please, Corina, you're going to be my personal assistant, just call me Steven." 

"Okay Steven! Thank you so much for this opportunity!" 

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you deciding to accept just now?" She gulped and tried to make up an excuse, but it was clear he wasn't buying it. "I'll get you to tell me one day, Corina. I'll see you right here once the paperwork goes through. Okay?" 

"Yes, Steven! Thanks again!" She beamed at him and walked back home to the cafe. She needed to get started on a gift, and tell her father about her new job.


	29. Looking Up

Corina walked downstairs into the cafe with Eda as it was opening up the next morning. "Corina!" 

"Yes Dad?" 

"Are you sure about this whole Hoenn thing?" He frowned "I'm going to go tell Professor Sycamore about it right now. Steven is sure I can do this job." 

"I know you can." 

"I'll be fine, Dad." She kissed his cheek and left the cafe and headed towards the lab. When she got there she saw the stain glass above the doors was shattered and the door to the lab was open. She andEda bolted inside. "Professor! Leon!" 

"Aaam!" 

"Professor Sycamore!" 

"Corina?" He walked out to the lobby with Leo by his side. "What happened here? Are you both okay?" 

"Oh! Yes, everyone is fine. Those Team Rocket pests tried to steal Ash's Pikachu yesterday evening after you ran out. Ash and Alain stopped them." 

"Thank goodness, I guess they can't be good people for long." 

"What brings you down here? Going to tell me why you ran off to see Steven the other day?" he raised an eyebrow and placed his hand in his pocket while he held his coffee with the other. "Why I-What? How did you know?" 

"I saw you holding his business card right before you ran out. I could see this coming as well." 

"Yeah, Steven offered me a job when I left Hoenn, and I guess I didn't want to take it until the other day." 

"That's amazing, Corina!" Leon exclaimed, smiling brightly. "What changed your mind?"

"Well like I said, my journey is over and I want to stay somewhere for a while, and this will help me advance my dreams." 

"Well, I know we're going to miss you around here." He smiled sadly. "When do you leave?"

"As soon as all the paperwork goes through. I filled it all out last night cause I was so excited." He chuckled. "Typical. This is all marvelous, Corina. How's your father taking this?" She sighed. "He's taking it okay, I can tell he doesn't want me to go, but he knows how much I want this." 

"Well I'm glad you two have started seeing eye to eye on more things." 

"Me too, Professor." She looked around "Where are Alain and Mairin?" 

"Stopping by the police station." 

"The police station? Didn't they already talk to them?" 

"Yes. Alain is turning in his key stone as evidence." She took a step closer to him and her eyes went wide. "Turning in his key stone!? Why?" 

"Lysandre was the one who gave him the mega ring. He wants to get one on his own grounds." She smiled a little, "Well, that's Alain. How is he doing?" 

"Why don't you see him yourself? He'll be stopping by later for the awards ceremony." 

"Oh-uh-I'm going to be stopping by the cafe to help out." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Corina." 

"Yes?" 

"Are you sure you just don't want to see Alain?" 

"Wh-Who said that?" 

"Corina, please. You're not all that hard to read. The way you feel about Alain is quite obvious." Sycamore said with a slight smirk, and Leon snickered. "I-I don't know-know what you're talking about." Her face turned pink and she tucked some hair behind her ear. "If you say so, Corina." he chuckled. "You don't have to deny it to me, Corina. As if your feelings weren't obvious enough, Steven gave me a little hint." She scoffed. "Darn it, Steven." She cursed under her breath. "Anyway, I should be heading back to the cafe to help Dad. See you, Professor! Bye Leon!" 

"See you, Corina." "Bye, Corina! 

She arrived back home to the cafe where her father was finishing with the end of the late rush of people on their way home from work. She slipped by him and went into the kitchen and began baking up her goodbye presents. 

That night she and her father and their pokemon watched from the rooftop of their building, a cool refreshing breeze swept by them as her father's Pichu, Lucy, climbed up his shoulders. Finally the countdown began and the two looked over at Prism tower. "Six...Five...Four...Three...Two...One!" Cheering echoed as the Tower's lights illuminated the city, shining brightly in the symbolism that Lumiose was healing quickly, and the gym was now open once again. The fireworks exploded in bright colors and shapes and Corina smiled widely as she watched them alongside her team. "Corina?" 

"Hm? Yes Dad?" 

"I've missed you." His dark green eyes were soft. "It wasn't until I saw you fighting away Team Flare alongside your friends and pokemon that I really saw that you're not a little girl anymore." He looked ahead out at the fireworks. "You and Eda battled together without a second thought in your minds. And when I look at you I see your mother." She looked away, not wanting to think about her. "I know you've always wondered how you fit into our family, since you and I were always so different. But I always saw you are so much like your mother. You live for adventure and discovery, always craving new things. I knew eventually you'd have to leave Lumiose, I suppose I was trying to delay the inevitable." He looked back over to her. "I just hope you can forgive me for keeping you here for so long." She smiled and leaned against him. "Of coarse I do, Dad."


	30. Next Stop

Corina and Eda were opening up the cafe for the first time since the Lysandre events and they couldn't be more thrilled. The old atmosphere was already back aside from the distant sound of drilling and shuffling furniture from the apartment upstairs. She and her partner held the decorated double doors open for their patrons as they returned to the cafe. "This place looks wonderful, Corina!" She looked over and smiled when she saw Professor Sycamore standing beside her. "Thank you, Professor! We took the chance to remodel a bit with all the insurance money and donations we received. I think it's a great improvement." 

"I do too. I have to admit, it won't be the same here or in the lab with you in Hoenn with Steven." She smiled sympathetically "Professor, you said that already." he laughed and scratched the back of his neck. "I suppose I did. An old man like me can't keep track of all that." She giggled and stepped closer inside. "Why don't you come on in and have a coffee, Professor. I'll make it your usual." 

"That doesn't sound half bad, thank you." He took his usual table outside and she stepped behind the counter to make Sycamore's coffee while Alistair took care of the customer's orders. She looked around the cozy and fanciful cafe. The cafe had a brown paint with wooden lining the bottom, and dark purple tables and chairs on the black and white tiles. The sweet aroma of bread and pastries came from the kitchen combined with the bitter fragrance from the coffee. Corina smiled softly as she remembered how much she had really missed this place. To anyone who asked she told she was thrilled to be out of the cafe where she felt trapped, but now that she has experienced the Kalos region and had been through the challenges and seen the beauty, she was happy to be back home. Even if it wasn't to last long. 

Corina walked back outside and stopped at Sycamore's table. "One Cafe Creme for the Monsieur." He grinned down at the drink with the leaf design in the foam. "And as a bonus," She set down a plate with a cupcake and a small decorated gold and purple box. "A garchomp themed cupcake and a box of our famous chocolate pasties. On us." The cupcake was chocolate with dark purple icing with red and yellow sprinkles and small white spike designs around the edge, and a yellow star on the very top. "Corina..." He smiled down at the gifts. "This is marvelous, thank you so much. I can't not pay for all these." 

"Please, Professor. It's our pleasure. They're gifts." 

"Corina, really, are you sure?" 

"I'm positive. Enjoy, Professor." She turned to go back inside when a small crowd across the street drew her eye. It was a group of reporters surrounding someone. Through the people she caught a glimpse of Steven Stone in the middle of it all. "That's going to be you one day." Sycamore said as he took a sip of his coffee. "I'll go save him." She set down her tray and made her way towards the crowd. Steven locked eyes with her for a moment when he noticed her pushing her way through. "Steven Stone! Professor Sycamore over there would like to speak with you a moment right away." She took him by the arm and pulled him through before the reporters could protest. As they crossed the street he turned to her. "What does the Professor need?" 

"Oh, I made that up. I thought you may want to get away from those mandibuzz reporters." He smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Corina." 

"Why don't you step inside and I'll get you a coffee or something. My treat." 

"Thank you, that sounds lovely." She led the man to the counter. "I'll take this next one, Alistair." She pat him on the shoulder and he glanced up and fumbled with the change he was holding when he recognized Steven Stone. "O-Okay Corina." He rushed into the back, presumably to tell her father Steven was here in the cafe. She took care of his order and directed him to a table and began to fill out his order. 

Once she was finished she brought it over and set down his black coffee and pastry down in front of him. "This smells wonderful, Corina, thank you. I didn't know you worked in a cafe." 

"It's my father's place. He's been running it since I was born." 

"So you've grown up around here? It's a lovely cafe. We don't have any quite like this in Rustboro City." 

"I'll miss it here, that's for sure." 

"Steven Stone?" Corina jumped at her father's voice from behind her. "Yes?" 

"I'm Corina's father, Henry." Steven stood and smiled, shaking hands with her dad. "Pleasure to meet you, sir. This is a lovely cafe you own." 

"Thank you. So, you're taking Corina away with you to work for you in Hoenn, right?" Corina tensed a little at his wording and felt herself heating up from embarrassment. "D-Dad!" 

"You'd better take good care of my little girl, she's never been out of Kalos for a long time before." 

"Daaaaaad!" 

"Corina, I'm trying to get to know the man who's going to be taking care of you." She felt herself flooding with humiliation while Steven only chuckled nervously. "Dad please don't say it like that, it makes it sound like we're getting married. You're embarrassing me in front of my new boss." 

"Don't worry, Henry, she'll have everything she needs in Rustboro. Complete with a Devon payed for apartment, good pay, fair medical plan, and on-the-job experience." 

"Yes, I read all that in the contracts." 

"Okay Dad you got your promise, you can go back to the kitchen now." She pushed him slightly. "We'll be in touch, Mr. Stone." He strode back into the kitchen and Corina sighed exasperated. "I'm sorry about him, Steven. My father can be a tad over protective." 

"Th-That's okay, Corina." 

"Anyway, I should get back to work. Enjoy your coffee." She left him be and got back to work manning the cash register. 

Morning soon turned to mid afternoon and the rush was slowing down a bit and Corina was running things with Eda while Alistair took his break. She was updating the menu board when the bell above the door jingled. "Hey! It's Corina!" She turned and smiled when she saw Ash and Pikachu and Serena walking over to the counter. "Hey you two! I haven't seen you since Alain's welcome back party!" She stepped off her latter and walked up to the counter. "This is such a cute cafe!" Serena smiled as she looked around "Thanks! It's my Dad's place really. Anyway, what can I get for you two?" 

"What's that you were adding to the menu?" 

"Oh! Let me show you! Go take a seat anywhere you like!" She smiled and they walked off to a table by the window. 

She walked over to them with two cupcakes on a tray and set them each down in front of the trainers. Serena's was dark chocolate with yellow frosting and red sprinkles and a little chocolate stick made to look like a Braixen's wand. Ash's was vanilla with yellow icing and little red dots on the edges with two little white chocolate garnashes colored like a Pikachu's ears. "The new item is when we make a cupcake that looks like a pokemon! Oh! And of coarse I couldn't forget about you, Pikachu!" She placed a yellow pokepuff in front of him and he squealed in delight. "Wow Corina! These look amazing!" 

"Taste amazing too!" Ash agreed with a mouth full. Corina giggled, "I'm glad you enjoy them." 

"Oh! How much were they?" Serena asked when she remembered they hadn't payed. "Oh, don't worry about it. Saving the world was payment enough." 

"Are you sure, Corina? It's no problem." She waved her hands. "I'm sure. Besides, anything for a Kalos League finalist and a Master Class finalist." She winked and turned on her heel and went back to work.

The end of the day finally came and Corina had to close up. As she turned the key in the lock she looked out the glass doors to see the city lights brightly lit and less and less people in the streets. She smiled sadly and took a deep breath. "Ammm?" Her partner walked up beside her after putting the last chair up on the table. "This is our last night here for a while, Eda. Next up is Rustboro City." 

"Am." She nodded. "I'm gonna miss this place. Now that Dad and I are agreeing more it's harder to leave than it was the first time." She chuckled a bit. "I'm going to be working for Steven Stone. This is everything I've ever wanted! I hope it lives up to my expectations." 

"Ammm, Amphaaa, Amm." 

"Yeah we should get some sleep. Big day tomorrow." She smiled down at her partner and led her upstairs to the apartment.


	31. New Dawn, New Day, New Life

Corina shoved her second suit case shut and exaggerated her tiredness by wiping pretend beats of sweat from her forehead. "That'll do it, don't you think, Eda?" 

"Ammm!" She smiled and grabbed a small bag of her own and followed Corina out of the room, but before the girl left she turned and placed her hand on the light switch, hesitated, looking around the small bedroom nostolically and turned off the light and shut the door. She was about to drag her suit case down the stairs into the cafe when her father stopped her. "Corina wait! Let me get this for you." Her father took it from her hand without allowing her to stop him and brought it down the wooden steps. "Dad, I could take care of that myself." She smiled and rolled her eyes as she followed him. "I know, I know, you're a big girl now moving all the way to Rustboro City in Hoenn. At least let your old man help you out while he can, okay?" She smiled "Okay Dad, you win." She smiled and grabbed some decorated pastry boxes from the counter and followed her father outside. He stopped on the side walk. "I'll wait here for Steven and the car, you head to the lab to say goodbye." 

"You sure you can handle everything?" 

"I've got it, Corina. You go see the Professor. I'm sure he's waiting for you." 

She walked up the familiar steps of the Pokemon Lab and stepped inside. Smiling at the old decorative foyer. Her father was right, Sycamore was there waiting for her. "Good morning, Professor." 

"Good morning, Corina." He replied, his voice was warm and slow. "Well, I guess this is goodbye for a while." She shrugged and stepped further inside. "You'll be sure to call?" 

"Of coarse, Professor. And I'll visit when I can." 

"I'll hold you to it." He smiled. "Anyway, these are for you." She handed him the pastry boxes with three envelopes on each one. He looked through them all. "One for Alain, Marin, Leon, and myself." 

"Yeah, goodbye letters." 

"You never have like goodbyes, have you?" She chuckled a little and shrugged. "You know me so well, Professor." He opened his box and smiled. "Pokepuffs, for all the pokemon. Made them myself." He stared at them a moment longer and closed the box and looked at her once again. "They'll love them." 

"Make sure Garchomp doesn't eat them all." 

"Speaking of...Garchomp! She's here!" He called down the hall and within seconds the dragon type raced over and wrapped her wings as best she could around Corina. "Awww, Garchomp! I'll miss you too!" Garchomp blubbered a reply and Corina laughed. "I'll visit you soon, girl!" 

"Alright, Garchomp, that's enough, you're going to smother her." Reluctantly, she stepped back beside the Professor. "Corina, there's something I should say before you go." 

"Professor..." She looked up at him sadly, knowing what was coming. "When you were nine you fell into my conservatory because some bullies pushed you. You spent the whole day with me helping me care for the pokemon and I could tell that you and pokemon had a special connection. I knew right then that it would be a mistake to not have you as my assistant in the future. It took ruthless persuasion for your father to let me have you around here. You've been faithful, caring, and extremely smart. Sometimes even smarter than me." He chuckled a bit. "It's truly been an honor and a joy to have you working beside me and I'm so happy I got to watch you grow up into a strong, curious, brave, and intelligent young woman. Thanks for putting up with me this long. You're not going to be an assistant with Steven forever, nor should you be. You're going to do amazing things one day and I know I can't wait to see what they're going to be. I've never had a daughter of my own, but you've been as close of a daughter as I can get." There was a slight pause and he smiled, wiping a tear from his eye. "So there's my piece. You should be-" He was cut off when Corina hugged him tightly, he was stiff from surprise at first but soon hugged her back. "Thank you so much Professor, for everything you've given me. I would never have done any of this without you." 

"Well," He let go and she stepped back from him. "You should be going, I'm sure they're waiting for you." She nodded. "I'll call you from my new apartment." He smiled. "Goodbye Corina." 

"See you, Professor." She turned and walked out of the lab, closing the front door behind her and taking a deep breath.

Corina arrived back in front of the cafe where her father, Steven, and the driver were all waiting for her. "You said goodbye to Sycamore?" Her father asked and she nodded. "Well, call me when you get to your apartment. Are you sure you don't want me to fly over there with you to help you settle in?" 

"Dad, if I keep saying 'yes' to those kinds of questions, you're going to end up living with me over there." He laughed, but it seemed a little forced. "I suppose you're right." 

"I'll...give you two a moment." Steven smiled and he and the driver sat in the car. "You will call me when you get there, won't you?" She smiled. "Yes Dad, I will. Don't worry about a thing, I'll be fine over there. I've waited my whole life for this." 

"I know you have. You really are just like your mother." 

"Dad, can we not-" 

"I know, I know, sorry. You don't like talking about her." He smiled "I love you, sweety." she hugged him tightly and he hugged her back. "I love you too." They stood there, just hugging for a minute "Get on, now, they're not gonna wait forever." 

"Yeah..." She let go of him and wiped a tear from her eye. "I'll...uh...visit soon. Okay? Take good care of the cafe. Keep me updated on everything here." He nodded. "Don't worry about a thing." She nodded and opened the black sedan door and stepped inside, turning to wave goodbye to her father as the car drove away. "Corina?" Steven placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked over at him. "Yeah?" 

"Are you okay?" She took a moment before nodding. "Yeah, I'll be okay." He nodded in confirmation and allowed her to sit in silence until the got to the private jet. Corina may have hated flying, but this was one way to go that helped her out. 

The jet finally landed at the Rustboro City airport and a car picked them up from the air strip and brought Corina to her apartment building. A doorman and Steven grabbed her bags and got into the elevator with Corina and her pokemon. Up to floor 12. They got off and walked down to a corner apartment at the end of the hall. Steven handed her the key and she turned it slowly in the lock until it clicked and the door gently swung open. It was spacious and cozy. She stepped inside with her pokemon following behind. They all looked around but none of them went off to explore yet. Steven tipped the doorman and he left while Steven brought the bags beside her. "Corina?" 

"Hm?" She looked over at him. "Do you need anything? Any help moving in?" She shook her head. "No thanks." 

"Okay. Call me if you need anything at all. Work starts in two days." He pat her back a bit before leaving her and her team alone in the new apartment. 

Corina exchanged looks with all her pokemon and took a deep breath. This was it. 

 

 

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Well that's it!!

Wow I can't believe I've actually finished a story! 

What did everyone think of this story and the ending?

This is the end of the official story but I may post some smaller filler pages here and there of things that have happened either during the story that I didn't put in earlier or of things that happen after the story ends!

Let me know if you have any questions regarding my ocs or the story line!


	32. Corina Meets the Professor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A blast to the past! This is how Corina first met Professor Sycamore when she was nine years old on a class field trip! I hope you enjoy this little bit of history!

The students walked around the lab, pushing each other to get a look at the pokemon through the glass windows. Corina finally got up to the window, she had never seen pokemon in this environment before. They were running around and playing, some even coming up to the glass to greet the children who crowded around and pointed, smudging the glass greatly. But it didn't take long for her to be shoved out of the way and tumble to the ground. But, instead of banging her head against the doors that led out to the pokemon habitat, she rolled right through the doors and found herself inside the room. Getting up and rubbing the back of her head she pushed against the doors, but nothing happened. So she tried pulling on the doors too, but it only resulted in her hands slipping from the handle and Corina falling on her butt. She tried to get up and go over to the window, but her class had already moved on without her. Corina decided to walk around and find some sort of other exit, maybe one that would help her get back to her classmates. While walking around, she was so taken by everything around her that she didn't see the branch sticking right out in her path until she tripped over it. She landed face first into the grass, and a pain shot from her knee. Rolling over onto her back, she examined her right kneecap to see a large scrape, with dirt covering the majority of her legs. Realizing she was hurt, and lost in such a large lab. She curled up and hugged her knees close to her chest and began to cry.

"Hey there," A voice greeted her, she looked up, her eyes red and her cheeks puffy. Her eyebrows raised when she realized she was looking right up at Professor Sycamore. "Are you lost?" He knelt down in front of her, a genuine smile stretched across his face. "What's your name, little one?"

"Corina..." She replied shyly, her voice barely above a whisper. "Corina, are you here on the field trip?" She nodded, "Well, first, let's get you all cleaned up, then we'll get you back to your class." He pulled out a first aid kid that she hadn't noticed was set beside him. He pulled out a wash cloth and rubbed the dirt off her legs and scrape, which she initially winced from, which only made him smile at her reassuringly. While he was doing this, a scatterbug and a furret walked out from the bushes and examined the child, making sure she was all right. Corina smiled and reached out to the furret which was closest to her. It rubbed it's long body along her palm eagerly, enjoying the affection, but made scatterbug jealous and rub against her other hand making her laugh as she pet both of the pokemon carefully. Profecssor Sycamore finished putting a band aid on her scrape and just sat beside her and watched as the two pokemon nuzzled her. "Corina, how did you get in here?"

"We were all looking at the pokemon through the windows, but then I got pushed out of the way and fell in here, the door locked and I decided to look around for another exit." She explained, the redness on her face gone and replaced by a smile. "I see. Now, tell me, how old are you?"

"Nine years old."

"So, almost ready to start your journey." Corina shook her head and the professor's smile faded slightly "My dad says I can't go."

"Why not?"

"Well he...." She trailed off, realizing she didn't have an answer. "I don't know..." Suddenly getting shy, she rubbed her arm with her hand. "Professor Sycamore?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I not go back to my classmates?" He frowned and raised an eyebrow at her. "Why not?"

"The kids aren't nice to me." he was silent a moment, "How?"

"They like to call me names..."

"Why would that be?"

"I don't know...my daddy says it's because they're jealous of me. But I just think they like being mean to me."

"What sort of things do they say to you?" He asked, concern in his eyes. "They say I'm weak because I don't have any pokemon. They all borrow pokemon from their parents to battle. They call me a nerd and a loser." As she went on her voice got quieter and she avoided his gaze and looked at the grass between her feet. "Hm..." he seemed to be in thought for a moment, then placed a hand on her shoulder "I'm sure if I let your teacher know, she won't mind you hanging around here with me for a while. Do you want to help me feed the pokemon?" He asked and her face lit up and she nodded excitedly. He took her hand and led her through the trees until they got to the small pond in front of the windows. All the pokemon gathered around when they saw he had a cart with food and bowls on it.

"All right, so, coordinate the color of the jar with the color of the pokemon. Tan goes to sentret, orange goes with combee, amber goes to psyduck and so on." He explained to her and started opening the lid to a blue jar that Corina assumed was for marill and azurill.

They finished feeding the pokemon and Corina was now playing with them happily, running around and petting them. "Say Corina," the professor began, causing her to stop running in front of him. "Yes?"

"Do you want to go on a journey?" She smiled widely "Of coarse! I wanna go out and learn a bunch of new things and catch new pokemon!" He chuckled a bit, "Oh? And what kinds of things do you want to learn?"

"All kinds of things about science and technology." He raised an eyebrow, intrigue in his gray eyes "Really? A nine-year-old interested in science and technology? How interesting."

"Yeah! Ever since I read Professor Oak's report on the pokedex, I want to learn all kinds of things about pokemon and the things that help us understand them."

"Corina, do you mind calling your Dad on this phone here?" He handed her a phone from his belt "Ask if he can come pick you up, I want to meet him."

"Uhh, okay!" She took the phone and dialed her father's phone number.

About fifteen minutes later Professor Sycamore left Corina with the pokemon and went to greet her father. They stood on the other side of the window and watched as they all played together. "It's been a while Professor Sycamore, but I must ask, why do you need to see me?"

"I was curious, I met Corina today when she got lost in my lab and I spent the majority of the afternoon with her here. She's a very unique young girl."

"She didn't cause you any trouble, did she?" Sycamore shook his head "No no, not at all. She's a very smart young girl, I just wanted to know, why don't you want her going on a journey?"

"It's complicated, I don't think she should be going out as a ten year old."

"Then why not in a few years?"

"I don't know, I'll just have to see where she is." Sycamore put his hand in his lab coat pocket and looked out the window at Corina. "I have enjoyed Corina's presence today, and I think the pokemon liked having her around as well. I'm very happy to have found young child who is interested in science and technology. Reminds me of her mother." He handed a file to Corina's father. "What is this?"

"An application. If she is interested, I would like Corina to fill it out. It's to be an assistant in my lab."

"You want Corina as an assistant? What kind of work would she be doing?"

"At first just socializing with and caring for the pokemon, then go on from there. She has to be ten years old in order to fill it out, so perhaps give it to her on her birthday."

"I'll see if she's interested."

Corina's father opened the door to the pokemon's habitat and called to his daughter who waved a reluctant goodbye to the pokemon before running up to her dad. Before they left she waved goodbye to Sycamore. "Goodbye, Professor Sycamore!"

"So long! Be sure to come visit again!" He waved back and watched as she skipped outside the lab with her father. The professor sighed as the doors shut behind them. Her eyes were exactly the same as Maria's, and she didn't even know.


	33. An Up-And-Comer's Gala

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So Corina's been working as Steven Stone's assistant for a little while, and she's officially become an apprentice to him! He takes her to a fancy gala to help her make connections with other important company executives! I like to imagine Steven and Corina developing a sort of sibling relationship, since neither of them have any siblings. Enjoy!

Corina had spent the past few months working for Steven Stone in Rustboro City. She had become his personal assistant and apprentice, going on all kinds of business trips with him around the world and learning only things she could first hand. She walked into Steven's office at the Devon Corporation in the morning to find him organizing his office somewhat frantically "Steven, you need to relax, the gala isn't until tonight and you're already running around like a madman." She walked in and set some papers on a chair next to his desk. He smiled tiredly "I know, I know, It's just important that this event goes well."

"I know, Steven. And your father knows that too. I'm sure all the preparations are going according to plan." She calmed down her boss and he sat down behind his desk. "You're right, Corina. I've been anxious for this all month."

"This night is going to be fun! I'm excited! I get to meet all the "big people" in charge of big industries all around the world! This is way more experience than I ever got back in Lumiose City!"

"You're not nervous to meet these people?"

"No! Why?"

"I don't know, I guess I thought it would be intimidating for someone who's new to this circle." He chuckled to himself "But I guess you're never really nervous about anything." Corina smiled back at him and put some files in a bookcase "So, when are you letting me go so I can start getting ready?"

"How long do you think you need?"

"Well, I have to shower, do my hair, make-up, fix my dress, pick out shoes, pick jewelry. So about an hour and a half."

"An hour an a half?" He repeated, surprised. "I need time to look perfect, Steven." He sighed with a hint of a chuckle and looked up at her "All right, You can get off at four thirty. But you'd better have the sketches done by then." She smiled and skipped out of his office "Thanks, boss!"

Five thirty rolls around and Corina's hair was done up in a cute bun and she was just finished with her make-up when a knock came from her door. "I'm not expecting anyone...?" She walked up and opened to door to see a young man in a uniform "I have a package for Ms. Corina?"

"That's me."

"Here you are." He handed her the boxes and he left. She shut the door with her foot and set the boxes down on her bed and proceeded to open them. In the larger, flat one was a folded red piece of clothing and a note on top of it.

"Dear Corina,

Hopefully this will make your decision what to wear much easier for you.

Steven Stone."

She smiled and set the note aside and held up article. It was a long, fetching red dress. "Wow..." Corina breathed as she smiled, she moved onto the next box and inside was a diamond necklace with the pendant missing, there was another note that told her that the missing pendant was where her key stone was supposed to go. She took off her necklace and removed her key stone and fastened it securely in the other necklace.

After getting dressed she checked over everything and made final adjustments in the mirror. She got a call, "Hello?"

"Hello there."

"Hi Steven!"

"Are you ready? The car is outside your building." Corina did one last check "Yeah, I'm ready."

"All right then, come on down." She hung up the phone and hurried down to the first floor to meet Steven in the sleek, black, limo outside. The chauffeur opened the door for her, she nodded to him and stepped in, careful not to hit her head on the roof of the vehicle. "I thought that dress would look nice on you." As she sat down she looked over and saw Steven in a nice tux. "You certainly have great taste, boss." She smiled at him and he nodded in return.

The limo arrived at the ballroom where the gala was being held. Several other cars were dropping people off, it was almost like out of a movie, the lights were shining into the dark sky and people were dressed in elegant clothes. They pulled up to the entrance and a gentleman rushed over and opened the door, while another took her hand gently and helped her out of the car. Photographers lined a red carpet and snapped photos as Steven stepped out of the limo. Suddenly, as she was standing there and the cameras were flashing in her eyes she began to feel uneasy, she looked over at Steven, who seemed to sense her unease and smiled reassuringly at her.

"Ready?" He held out his arm and she hooked hers around it and smiled back with a nod. He led her along and photographers tried shouting his name to get his attention, he just smiled and waved, looking into whatever cameras they could before two men opened the double doors for them.

They walked out to the top of a staircase that opened up to a large ballroom filled with people dancing and mingling about. Corina took a deep breath to calm herself down before she walked down the steps, still holding onto Steven's arm, but mostly for balance. "Thank you for getting this dress and necklace for me, you didn't have to do that." She said as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "Don't worry about it, Corina, it was nothing."

"It was still really nice of you to do that." He shrugged grabbed two drinks from a server walking around, one a flute of champagne and one of sparkling cider. "Well? What do you think?" He asked her, gesturing to the ballroom filled with people. She looked around a took a moment, "It's incredible, Steven. Thank you for inviting me."

"You're my apprentice, of coarse I'm inviting you." He smiled. "Now come on, let's make you some connections. And please, try to keep your composure. Not like when you first met me." She laughed a bit, embarrassed. "Sure thing, boss."

A while later Corina walked outside onto the balcony, desperately needing some fresh air and some space from the crowded gathering of people inside. Reaching the rails she took a deep breath and gazed up at the stars.

"Corina?" She looked over to see Steven walking towards her. "Hey Steven."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just needed some fresh air." She turned back around when he stood at the railing beside her. "Are you sure? You're having a good time, aren't you?" She smiled "Of course! This party is amazing. All that planning really payed off!" But he still didn't look convinced, "Corina, we spend a lot of time together, I think I know you well enough to tell when you're lying, since you're also not very good at it." She sighed, "I just got myself thinking about Kalos again. Don't get me wrong, boss, I am eternally grateful for this opportunity to be here in Hoenn with you and work at Devon. But I can't help but miss home."

"And Alain?" She felt herself blushing and she looked over to the side, "I guess he goes along with that." She chuckled, "Why do you have to be so perceptive?" He laughed a little as well and looked over at her, his dawn stone colored eyes gazing into hers. "Corina, you're a very smart girl and I wouldn't have asked you to join me here in Hoenn if I didn't think so. From the moment I met you I saw that you had the ambition and the potential to make it very far in this world. Over the two years you've been with me I've grown to think of you like a little sister that I never had. You know that I am usually very busy and I don't usually have time to spend a lot of time relaxing, but you've helped me manage a lot of my time, and I'm very lucky to have you by my side."

She smiled, for once unsure of what to think of what he just said to her. "Wow, Steven. I never knew you felt like that about me. I mean, I feel the same way, you are kind of like an older brother to me as well. It's just nice to hear you say that."

"Do you want to head back inside?" She nodded "Yeah, let's go." He opened the door for her and she walked back inside, Steven following close behind.


	34. Long Time, No See

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Professor Sycamore and Leon plan a trip to Rustboro City to meet with Steven Stone! Enjoy!

Corina was sitting at her desk and was just wrapping up an email to the lab department when the phone rang. Without looking away from the screen she picked it up and held it between her ear and her shoulder. "Hello, Devon Corporation, Steven Stone's office. Corina speaking." 

"Yes, hello, I'd like to make an appointment." She smiled widely when she recognized the voice and held the phone with her hand in her excitement. "Professor Sycamore!?" He laughed over the phone. "Hello Corina, good it hear your voice."

"I haven't heard from you in ages, how is Lumiose? And Leon? And the pokemon? And the rest of Kalos too? What are Ash and his friends doing?"

"Whoa whoa, slow down Corina. We can catch up when I arrive in Hoenn."

"You're coming to Rustboro City?"

"Yes. I have some research from the Giant Rock I'd love to share with Steven in person. Is he available for a meeting next week?"

"Let's see..." She pulled up his schedule for the next week and smiled. "I can put you in on Wednesday, does that sound okay?"

"Great. Alain, Leon, and I are flying in on Monday night." She tensed and her eyes went a little wider. "A-Alain is coming too?"

"Yes! He's been working as my assistant around the lab since you left. Although league business keeps him away sometimes. He's excited to see you again."

"He-He is? Really?" The professor chuckled. "He is, although he's showing it in his usual manor. We'll see you soon, Corina."

"See you, Professor." He hung up first and Corina set the phone back in its place. She took a deep breath, registering that she'd be seeing Alain again after about a year and a half.

Tuesday evening came around and she was going to dinner with the Professor, Leon, and Alain to catch up with them before their meeting the next day. In a cute green dress she entered the restaurant and looked around until she saw Sycamore waving to her from a table. She smiled and made her way over and the three men stood. "Corina! It's so marvelous to see you again!" They hugged. "Professor! It's been too long." "Corina!" Leon hugged her tightly. She laughed when she leaned back from him. He had started growing some stubble along his chin, making him look even more like his father. "I like the five o'clock shadow." "Really? I'm glad you like it. I figured I'd just embrace it rather than shaving again." She looked over and her heart skipped a beat. Alain's hair was a bit shorter and neater, making his face and bright blue eyes more visible. "Hi Alain. Long time no see."

"H-Hi Corina." He cleared his throat and took a seat next to the Professor and Corina took her place across from them, next to Leo. "So how is Kalos?"

"Amazing. Lumiose is thriving better than ever since you left. Although Lysandre Labs has had some rough times rebuilding itself. People still don't trust it." She scoffed. "I can imagine. Lysandre almost destroyed the whole world."

"They keep going through different presidents, hoping that they'll get one who can bring the company back to its former glory."

"Well good luck to 'em, I say." She said with a hint of sarcasm and took a sip of her water. "And Mairin? How is she?" She looked over at Alain. "She's great, she's turning into a formidable trainer. And loving her journey while she's at it. She's even taken up contest performing."

"Why does that make total sense for her." Corina replied and laughed, even making Alain chuckle a bit. "I guess her training is a lot easier with the Kalos Champion as her tutor, what's that like?"

"It keeps me really busy, I don't get to be around the lab as much as I'd like to be, not to mention reporters follow me around all the time." He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, tell me about it, being Steven Stone's apprentice brings on a whole other storm."

"So he's your mentor as well as your boss, huh? What's that like?" Leon asked and Corina smiled widely. "It's all I ever dreamed it would be, Leo. It's amazing! I've been building connections with so many different people and I feel like I could start my own company once I'm done working for Steven."

"That's amazing, Corina, this job sounds like everything you've ever wanted!"

"It is. I can hardly wait for what comes next." Then the waiter came and took their orders, but as Alain handed his menu to the waiter Corina saw something interesting poking out from under his sleeve. "Alain!"

"Yes?"

"Is that a key stone on your arm?"

"Oh, you noticed that?" He couldn't help but smile a bit and he pulled back his jacket sleeve to reveal a bracelet that looked similar to the one that was given to him by Lysandre, but was silver instead. "Oh my goodness! When did you get a new one?"

"Mairin and I found it deep within Frost Cavern."

"So I assume this means Charizard has a new Mega Stone now?"

"He does. It's the X version again too. Tyranitar and Metagross have Mega Stones now as well."

"That's amazing! I'm so happy you found them on your own terms this time, Alain."

"Thank you, Corina." She smiled at him and she looked over at Sycamore. "How is the bakery?"

"It's booming. Especially since two champions have been to the establishment." It took her a moment to realize he meant Steven and Alain. "That's wonderful to hear, I worry about Dad being all the way in Kalos without me."

"He has Alistair helping him out, and his pokemon. He's doing just fine."

"That's a relief."

Dinner went on and the three of them talked and talked as if they had never been away from each other. Corina couldn't believe that Alain was the Kalos Champion now, but she was reminded whenever someone came over to ask for his autograph and tell him how big of a fan they were. Alain seemed used to it, and a little uncomfortable with all the attention, but Corina just giggled whenever he'd smile shyly. It was a new side of him that reminded her of the Alain she first met, but more mature.

The chauffeur dropped the three men off in front of their hotel and took Corina back to her apartment building. She walked inside her home and let her pokemon out of their pokeballs before getting some good nights rest.

The next morning she walked into Steven's office to see he was already in there. "Good morning, boss." She greeted him as she handed him his messages for the morning. "Good morning to you, Corina. How was dinner last night?" He asked as he looked the pieces of paper over. "It was amazing! It was awesome to see Professor Sycamore, Leon, and Alain again."

"I bet it was. How is Alain doing?" He said with a small smirk. "Why do you ask about him specifically?" Corina asked, an eyebrow raised and already knowing the answer. "Oh, just curious."

"Well he's doing great." She smiled a little and allowed herself to talk about him more. "I'm very proud of him. He's doing a wonderful job in Kalos. He has his own key stone and mega stones now and he's a great champion."

"That's good to hear. What's it like seeing him again?"

"It's really nice..." She smiled to herself and caught herself out of her daze. When she noticed how Steven was cockily smirking at her she cleared her throat. I have work to do. Let me know if you need me." She huffed and walked out of his office and back to her desk.

Later that day Sycamore, Leon, and Alain had their meeting with Corina and Steven. All five of them talked about advancements in their research of The Giant Rock and other such projects. Corina was thrilled to be able to work alongside the Professor, his son, and Alain once again. The whole meeting she would steal glances over at the boy and noticing how he'd changed in the time since she'd been gone.

Once their meeting was over they all began packing up. "Say, Corina. Why don't you give Alain, Leon and I a tour of the city tonight?"

"Yeah! I can do that as soon as I get off work! I can meet you in front of the building."

"Sounds marvelous, right Alain?"

"Hm? Oh, yes. That sounds nice." Corina smiled, "I'll see you both then." Alain, Leo, and Corina left the room to let Sycamore and Steven finish up on their own.

That evening when Corina left the building she was met by Alain. "Hey there!"

"Hi Corina."

"Where's the Professor and Leo?"

"They said, uh, they forgot about some paperwork and can't come along." She chuckled. "Okay then, I guess it's just you and me. Come on, I'll show you the best spots in the city!" She smiled widely and led him through the streets, pointing out some local landmarks, and more of her personal memories around the city like different restaurants and funny little stories. "Here is the Rustboro Gym! The leader Roxanne is really strong and trains rock type pokemon."

"Have you challenged her before?" She shook her head. "No, it's not for me. But I have stopped by the Pokemon Trainer School there," She pointed "Roxanne teaches there. It's so cute to see how the kids act around her, and Steven for that matter." 

"I remember going to trainer school. That feels like so long ago now."

"Tell me about it. You're a champion now, and I'm Steven Stone's apprentice. It's crazy how things change so quickly."

"Yeah..."

"Anyway! Come on, I wanna show you something." She grabbed his wrist and rushed him to the fence surrounding the city, she hopped it and made sure he made it safely over. "Corina, are you sure we're allowed to be over here?"

"Psh! Yeah! I come over here all the time." She looked out at the ocean as the sun set along the horizon, but Corina could tell it was about to rain soon. "This is really beautiful."

"Isn't it? When I'm homesick, or stressed about work I look out here. Kalos is that direction." She pointed generally westward and smiled. They stood out there until the sun was almost gone and the rainclouds loomed heavily over them. "Come on, we should go back before it starts pouring." He nodded and they hopped back over the fence and made their way back to Corina's apartment building. "Alain, are you sure you can make it back to your hotel building on your own?"

"I'll find my way."

"Well, if you need my help, call me."

"I will." 

"I'll uh, see you tomorrow before you leave." There was a short silence as she headed inside. "Corina, wait." Alain stopped her from behind, Corina turned and looked up at him. It was starting to rain and the water was already turning the pavement silver. "What is it?" He looked down at the ground, Corina could tell from the dim streetlights that his face was turning a shade of pink "I wanna tell you something..." The rain was soaking into his hair and clothes, making his dark ebony hair shade his vibrant blue eyes. Corina was also becoming soaked, her short pink hair was clinging to her head, sending rivers of water down her face. But she wanted to hear what was so important for him to say.

"I've missed you..." She raised her eyebrows, such forwardness and heartfelt-ness was unusual for him. "It's been two years since we've seen each other and I have missed you a lot. I've missed you around the lab, I've missed how smart you are, and your beautiful green eyes, and your laugh." Corina's face began to turn pink as well. "A-Alain-"

"Please, Corina, I want to get through this. I practiced it the whole plane here." His handsome features were being accented by the lights and the water streaming down from his hair. His eyes were pleading and worried, so Corina kept her mouth shut and allowed him to continue. "It's been driving me insane the way I've missed you. I never realized how much I'd feel this way when you left Lumiose City...and I think it's because..." He looked into her eyes, and she could tell that he was starting to gain more control over his words and therefor starting to second-guess himself. "...because I....because....." He took a deep breath to calm his nerves "I think it's because I have feelings for you...and more than just friendship...."

Corina could hardly believe what she was hearing. After all this time he was finally saying the words she had been waiting for since she used to travel with Alain around Hoenn. And here they were in the streets of Rustboro City, in the pouring rain, soaking wet. It was exactly as Corina dreamed it would be. Who would have guessed that after all this time he felt the same way as her?

She snapped herself out of her thoughts when she realized she had been speechless for a while and was probably driving Alain's nerves up the wall. "Corina, please say something?" But she couldn't. Utterly astounded, speechless. She wanted to blurt out that she had missed him too. His calm, powerful exterior and his passionate, warm interior. She had missed his bright blue eyes, his compassionate feelings towards his friends and pokemon, those occasional moments when he would smile. But no words came out.

Suddenly an idea came to mind. One that required no words at all and could be achieved in just a few steps towards him.

Corina stepped forward until she was closer to him. She grabbed his jacket and pulled him down so her lips collided with his. He was tense and surprised, but after a short moment he seemed to understand the situation and began kissing her back, lacing his arms around her back. Feeling more relaxed, Corina snaked her arms up and around his neck, leaning into the kiss, her knees becoming slightly weaker. She broke away from him for air, but it didn't last long when Alain closed the gap between them, kissing her again. Corina smiled into the kiss slightly, enjoying this moment and hardly wanting it to end.

When she separated from him again she leaned back, stepping out of his arms so he couldn't wrap her into another kiss so easily. "I'll uh, see you tomorrow, Alain." She smiled at him before waving a goodbye and walking into her apartment building.

When she walked into her home she went to her bedroom and flopped down on the bed, smiling like a total idiot and touching her lips gently. She couldn't believe she finally had her first kiss with Alain.


	35. Mother..?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> About two years after Corina has been working for Steven, she makes a startling discovery. Enjoy! I had a lot of fun writing this page!

Corina walked into the lab, a smile glistening on her face, and walking with a little extra spring in her step. "Good morning, Corina. What's got you especially happy today?" Her coworker, Maria asked. She took off her black frame glasses and set them on the counter she was sitting at. "My dad is visiting me today from Lumiose City! I'm taking him on a tour of the building and he should actually be here any minute!"

"Well that's exciting! After all the things you've told me about him I can't wait to meet him!"

"I know! And I think you two will get along!" Corina heard the sliding automatic doors open and close behind her, she turned to see a tall, burly, familiar man in the doorway. "Dad!"

"There's my girl!" She hopped up from her chair and rushed over to hug him. He laughed as he held her tightly in his arms. "I'm so glad you could make it to Rustboro City!"

"Me too! Now you get to show me around finally!" 

She stepped back from him and gestured to Maria still sitting at the counter, but who was slowly standing up. "Dad, this is one of the scientists here at the lab, Maria. Maria, this is my...Dad..." She trailed off when she saw the shocked looks the two were giving each other. "Henry..?" Maria asked shakily, "Maria...?"

"Wait. Do you two know each other?" Corina asked, and after a moment her father looked down at her, his expression unchanging. "Corina, are you telling me you don't know who this is?" When she was silent he answered his own question. "Corina, this is your mother."

Her heart stopped in her chest and her eyes went wide. She looked back and forth between her two parents. "No. No no no no no no. No no. No. No no no no. That's not... No no no." She was unable to make coherent sentences, left speechless she stumbled backwards a bit. "That's not possible! You can't be... My mother isn't... She's...." Suddenly the realization kicked in that this was the same mother who left Corina and her father when she was no more than two years old. "No. You can't be my mother! My mother was selfish! This can't be happening!"

"What are you doing working for Devon?" Henry asked, "I've been working here for the past eleven years."

"So this is what you've been doing since you left Kalos. You run off with a sailor and become a scientist."

"It's not as simple as that and you know it, Henry! We had problems of our own."

"That could've been fixed!" Corina was still in disbelief. The mother she had been wondering about and hating for the past 17 years of her life was right here in front of her and had been working with her for the past month. Without saying a word she sped out of the lab and headed to the elevator. When inside she felt tears brimming her eyes, but she soon masked them when rage and disappointment started rising.

The elevator doors opened and she walked down to the office she knew as Steven's and walked right inside without even knocking or saying her usual pleasant hello. "Corina? Is something wrong?" He asked, able to read her face like an open book. "I can't work with Maria anymore." He stood from his desk and walked around. He looked quite baffled. "I thought you two were getting along great."

"We were until I found out she's nothing more than a lying, selfish, manipulative, little spoiled brat!" Surprise was written on his face and he walked over to her "Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. I've never heard you so upset before, what's going on?"

"I just found out she's my mother. I mean, how am I supposed to work with someone who abandoned me when I was a year old!? How, Steven!?" He placed his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to calm her down. "Corina, please, take a deep breath." She did, but still looked angry. "She's your mother?" 

"Yeah. I've told you about her, haven't I?" 

"You've told me your opinion of her. What do you actually know about her?" He crossed his arms and sat on the edge of his desk. "Well, she worked a lot with Professor Sycamore when they were growing up. She met my Dad and got married and he started the bakery while she worked at the lab. Apparently she was a lot like me. Until she ran away with some sailor to apparently Rustboro City. She left my father and I when I was only one year old. Dad had to take care of me and the bakery." 

"It would explain why you two have always looked alike to me. And acted alike." 

"I can't work with her anymore, Steven. We should be on different shifts, or maybe I should be working in a different department, or maybe I should focus more on my business school studies. Just please, Steven, don't make me work with her." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Corina, if you're going to be working in the lab, you've got to stay on that shift." 

"Fine. Then I guess I'll have to just do less work here and focus on business school. 

"Come on, Corina, don't you think this is a chance for you to patch things up with her? I mean, aren't there some things you probably need to say to each other?" 

"Oh there are some things I've wanted to say all right." 

"Corina, you know that's not what I meant. Why don't you take the day and think about it? Why don't you talk with your father about this. You know, you're not the only one without a mother." Corina sighed. "I know, sorry Steven. I just....I don't want to even think about this right now." She buried her face in her hands. "Take a deep breath, Corina. You're okay." She took a deep breath, then realized she left her father downstairs. "Oh no..." 

"What?" 

"I gotta go! Bye Steven! Figure something out for me, would you!?" She shouted as she ran out the room to the elevator. While in there she saw a text message from her father telling her he went back to her apartment. 

She ran out of the building and down the street to her apartment building and into her home and slammed the door behind her. "Dad?" 

"Sorry for leaving Devon, Corina, I know you were excited to show me around." Her father replied from the family room. Corina walked over and slumped down next to him. "I feel so stupid, Dad." He looked over at her. "How could I have spent the past few years here and not know she's my mother?" 

"How were you supposed to know? You never even really knew her, Corina." 

"She's my mother, Dad! My mother! How could I have gotten along so well with her? If I had known I would've never stepped foot in that lab." 

"I suppose this is my fault..." Corina looked over at her father, frowning. "What? How could this be your fault?" 

"I never told you anything about her, I never showed you any pictures of her. I talked about her, sure, but never really said anything." He looked back at her. "I guess this is on all of us then..." 

They both sat there in silence for a while, neither of them quite sure what to say. "I'm going to make a call to the Professor... okay?" Corina broke the quiet, and her father nodded slowly, understanding that she needed to vent to someone else too.

"So, your mother is working at Devon?" Professor Sycamore answered the video call with Alain and Leon sitting beside him. "I guess so. I just don't know how I could have been so stupid. Now that I know Steven told me it is so obvious we're related." 

"Are you okay, Corina?" Alain asked, worry on his face. "I don't know... no..."

"Do you need me to fly over there? Charizard and I can be there by the time you hang up the phone." Alain offered, but Corina shook her head, smiling a bit. "No, no, don't do that. You have things in Kalos to deal with, Champion." 

"What are you going to do about this?" Sycamore asked before Corina and Alain could be distracted by their banter. "I don't know. I think I'm just going to focus more on my business school and come in to Devon less." 

"You're going to sacrifice you company time so you don't have to see your mother?" 

"It's either that or have to deal with seeing the mother who abandoned me every day." 

"What did Steven say?" 

"He said I should talk it out with her, which I just don't see happening." 

"....and why not?" 

"Cause she's my mother! Professor, she left me when I was a year old!" 

"Well you got along when you didn't know she was your mother." 

"And I can't believe I did now." 

"Corina, you remember that I knew your mother when she lived in Lumiose, right?" 

"Yes..." 

"Well she was a lot like you, Corina. I agree with Steven, you ought to give her a chance."

"But professor--" 

"Just something to think about, Corina. I understand that you're feeling conflicted right now." Just when Corina was thinking back to her times in the lab with Maria she remembered something. "Oh my god!" 

"What?" 

"I just remembered..." 

"What is it?" 

"She has sons!" 

"You have brothers?" Leon spoke up. "Half-brothers." Corina pointed out to him 

"How many?" 

"I think two..." 

"Do you remember their names?" 

"No...." 

"Are you sure you don't want me to fly over there, Corina?" Alain asked and Corina shook her head. "I'm gonna go talk to my dad. He should know about the boys." 

"Bye Corina." 

"Bye Corina, I love you." Alain said, worried. "I love you too, Bye." They hung up and Corina remained at the phone for a moment longer, then went to go talk to her father. 

Two days later she was heading to Devon and up to Steven's office. She was going to propose her new hour schedule so she could make more time for her business classes. Once she got up there Steven was at his desk. "Oh Corina! Sit down, I need to show you some templates." She sat across from his chair when the doors to the office suddenly closed. She turned and saw Maria, Alain, Leon, and Professor Sycamore standing there. She immediately became tense, figuring out she just walked into a trap. "What is this?" 

"Corina, we all agree that you two need to talk." Steven said, standing from his chair. She looked over and glared at him as the others took seats on the couch. "By 'we' you mean her?" Corina glared at him. "Professor Sycamore, Leon, Alain, and I." Corina looked over at Alain, who was suddenly uncomfortable. "Really now." 

"Corina, don't get upset." 

"You tricked me." 

"Would you really have come if we were honest with you?" She was quiet, knowing Steven was right. "We're going to leave you two in here until you talk." Steven picked up some papers and his laptop and left the room with the Professor, Leon, and Alain. 

The two ladies sat there quietly, Corina too pissed to say anything and Maria not quite sure what to say. "So. Tell me about your sons." 

"Corina..." 

"No. I want to know about this new family of yours that's so great." 

"Corina--" 

"What? What's so special about this husband that you left your old husband and one-year-old daughter for?" 

"You really want to know?" 

"Yes! Tell me what's so wonderful about him!" 

"I love him." Corina was silent. "And you never loved Dad?" 

"Not in the way I thought I did... I don't know. I've thought about it a lot since I left. I just fell in love with Ace. Every time I see him it's like the first time I met him all over again. With your father, I fell out of love after a while. I thought that was just the routine. But then I met Ace and everything changed. You understand, don't you?" 

Corina had turned away, deep in thought. "I wonder if Alain feels that way..." 

"He cares about you a lot, Corina."

"He does?" 

"He cares enough to make sure you're happy." Corina smiled a bit, but when she realized she was having a real conversation she frowned again. "What about your sons?" 

"Their names are Dmitri and Otto. Otto is the oldest, he's about three years younger than you. So he's fifteen. He loves photography and taking care of his pokemon. Dmitri is thirteen and wants to eventually go to a university. You'd like them." 

"Do they know about me?" 

"They do. Ace and the boys know I used to have another family. I'm sure they'd like to meet you if you want to." Corina gave her a look that discouraged the idea. "In your own time that is..." Her mother added. 

"You worked with the professor too, didn't you?" Maria smiled. "For a long time, yes. We were partners together with the professor that was there before him. We were very close friends growing up together." 

"So after you left Kalos, did you still keep in contact with him?" 

"A bit at first, but after a while he felt it was best if we didn't contact each other much anymore. He felt a bit uncomfortable after I married Ace." 

"Uncomfortable?" 

"He didn't like that I left Henry and you in the city." 

"So this is the first time you've seen him in...?" 

"Eight years." Corina was silent as she realized the timeline. "After I started working for the professor...right?" Maria nodded. "Yeah... He told me when he looked at you every day, he felt guilty that he still talked to me." Corina sighed and looked down at the ground. "I just... have one more question..." 

"Yes, Corina?" 

"Why? I-I mean, why'd you leave? It's been eating at me for years and I've just...never understood. I know you said you love Ace, but I just... was that it? I mean, I know it wasn't because you didn't want kids, cause you have two sons, but did you not want a daughter?" As she was talking she looked down at her hands in her lap. "Oh Corina..." Maria stepped over to her and held her hands, making Corina look up at her. "My leaving had nothing to do with you." Maria's eyes were sincere as they locked with Corina's. "Corina, I'll tell you something you'll understand once your a mother. From the moment I saw you I have loved you more than you know. Leaving you to go to Hoenn was the hardest decision I've ever made. I've missed you every single day." 

"You...have?" 

"Of coarse I have. Corina, you're my one and only daughter, and if I had only seen it from the moment I met you I would be a better mother. I've made a lot of mistakes, but none of them was having you, Corina." Corina felt a tear roll down her cheek. "There have been so many mothers days where I brought the professor's assistants in. Every time, I would find the picture my father keeps in his bedroom and talk to you in the picture. I would tell you how my day was." The girl was quiet for a moment, letting that sink in. "I want to talk to my real mother now." Maria smiled, her eyes watered a bit and she hugged Corina.


	36. Infinity Energy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Detective Corina takes to the scene when she finds something in Devon's old files. I love writing these types of stories! Enjoy!

Corina was in Devon's old filing room in the basement, looking for a certain file Steven wanted her to have digitized. She finally found the case she was looking for "IN", and of coarse it was on the higher shelves. She stretched on her tip-toes and tried to grasp the sides of the case, but it slipped and came tumbling to the ground, spilling the majority of the files on the floor. "Oh great, now I have to clean all this up." She picked up the files, most of them had clasps around them just in case this ever happened, luckily for her. As she was putting them away there was a file that drew her interest. It was a new file, although it was dated decades ago. On the front it had a stamp labeled "CLASSIFIED: TOP SECRET". It was titled "Infinity Energy". Corina had never heard of this energy before, and she had been working here for about four years now. Despite her better judgement, the curiosity was too much for her and she opened the file and started reading. 

On the first page was a story that every Kalosian child knew, the story of a man thousands of years ago who ended a great war by creating a super weapon, giving the world the energy and stones to achieve mega evolution. But what was it doing in this file? She read on and reached a report that must have been taken from 'Greater Mauville Holdings' years ago about a discovery of this Infinity Energy. She read more and found that Infinity Energy is the energy that was used to originally power the ultimate weapon many years ago, and is the life force that gives strength to pokemon. She furrowed her eyebrows as the question was repeated more and more in her head: "Why is this in here? And why is it Top Secret?" 

Finally, she found her answer. Devon was using this method of gathering energy to power their machines and tools. They were doing this by draining the strength of pokemon currently. 

When she was finished reading she found herself clenching the sides of the paper, rage boiling inside her. How could they be doing this!? How could Steven and Mr. Stone be allowing this to happen!? She took a deep breath and tried to figure out what to do with this information. This file alone may not be enough to warrant and investigation into the Devon Corporation, and she knew for a fact she didn't have the authorization to look into this. Unless...

She pulled out her phone and began snapping pictures of all the papers in the file, even the cover of the file itself. She placed the files back in the case, grabbed the one she was supposed to read, and put the box back, leaving the dark and dusty file room. 

She went about her work as if nothing had changed, she couldn't let Steven know she had learned so much information. She was enraged, and could hardly look at her boss anymore, constantly wondering how he could let this happen. A hypocritical man who brought down Lysandre Labs for what they were doing, when he was hurting and experimenting on pokemon as well. 

She left work early that night, making up something about feeling overly exhausted, but in reality she had research she needed to do on her own, and couldn't stand being in that building, knowing what was going on. 

She stayed at her computer at home late into the night, eating a quick microwave dinner in front of the screen. Ampharos stayed by her side most of the night while the other pokemon slept in their beds. Apparently after Greater Mauville Holdings was shut down, the League Association banned the use of Infinity Energy and other such resources, also putting stricter regulations on corporations and how they treated their workers. The Association also provided companies like Devon with several plans and ideas for alternate sources of energy. Steven could not claim innocence, since he was the champion of the Hoenn Region, and therefor very involved in League decisions and activities. 

Corina woke up the next morning at her desk, she must have fallen asleep while downloading the photos she took of the file onto a flash drive, along with all the official League files. She grabbed her flash drive and placed it in her pocket carefully and grabbed her stuff and left for work. There was still more to be done on this investigation. 

During the day she went down to HR and found an empty office, knowing the head of the department was out on vacation at the moment, making this a perfect time to...alter her status. She sat at the desk and found her file, before she got to her task she got distracted by the letter Steven wrote in her file. Several positive performance reviews and even a draft of a generic letter of recommendation were in there. Knowing this investigation could end poorly she copied the reviews and letter and moved them to her drive for future use. 

She then found her security clearance level and altered it so she was level 5 out of 6. Only the highest ranking employees were level 5. Only Steven and his father were 6. 

She printed her new ID and hid it in her bag. She took her flash drive and left the office, making sure the coast was clear before leaving. 

She went back up to her desk and proceeded with her work as she would any normal day, Steven was out on a business trip to Kanto for the next two days, so he wouldn't be seeing any incriminating emails from people who became aware of her actions, and even if they did, none of them would be high up enough to get an immediate meeting with him or the president. 

She stayed late, until at least nine o'clock until she was sure most of the lab staff would be gone, and maybe one or two unlucky scientists would be left there. She replaced her regular ID with the new one she created and went into the elevator, scanning her fake ID and pressing the buttons for the lab floors under the category "restricted areas". 

The doors opened to a nearly empty lab space, and a place she was unfamiliar with. She stepped out and walked around a bit, inspecting the upcoming projects and things she had never seen or heard of before. "Excuse me, miss? What are you doing here?" She turned around and saw a young man in a lab coat. She didn't recognize him, but judging by the crispness of the coat and name tag, he was new. "Oh wait, I know you. You're Steven's little girlfriend, right?" She scowled, now being associated with Steven in that way had become insulting. "Absolutely not. I am his executive assistant. While he's out of town he wanted me to check on how things are going down here." He checked the level 5 security clearance and apologized. "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware he gave his assistant such high clearance. He never sent down the memo that you'd be inspecting." 

"Well Steven usually has me send all his memos, so I figure it's better that I take care of this myself. Unless you want Steven himself have to take time out of his busy schedule to video chat this routine inspection. I know you're new here, so you don't know, that Steven is really a temperamental man who does not like being interrupted." She pulled out Steven's contact on her phone and hovered her finger over the call button threateningly. "So, what'll it be?" He gulped and laughed nervously "There's no need to disturb Mr. Stone in his meetings, I'm sure that he trusts his executive assistant to take care of this." She smiled a bit and put her phone back in her bag. She pulled out a notepad and pen to take notes with. "So, give me an update on the progress of the energy." She requested and he led the way to the back of the lab. She let out a silent breath of relief, thank goodness she got the new guy. 

He led her through a steel door and swiped his ID to get through. Inside was a viewing room of two rooms. One room was a room filled with an array of tired looking pokemon, and in the other room were strange machines and gauges that she recognized from the blueprints as the machines that collected the infinity energy. "Now, being new, fill me in on everything you know about this Infinity Energy gathering process." She said as she clicked the pen, activating the recording device hidden inside. "Well, in this room is where we keep all the pokemon we typically use for gathering energy. Depending on how powerful the pokemon is, they can stand to give more or less of their strength." As he was explaining she took some discrete pictures of the rooms. "So let's say we took that poochyena there, it would give less energy than say..." she looked around for a more powerful pokemon and recognized Steven's Metagross sleeping in the back. Something tugged at her heart when she saw how tired it looked. "than that metagross there." 

"Oh most definitely. Steven's metagross is very powerful and can stand to give more of its energy than a small wild pokemon like that." 

"Does Steven often volunteer his own pokemon for this process?" She asked, not taking her eyes off Steven's partner. "No, hardly ever. Only when he finds that he has to. He never watches when it happens either. Or so I hear." 

"When did Metagross' energy get taken?" 

"Only a week ago." 

"So how long does it take for pokemon to typically recover?" 

"Well again it depends on how much we take and how strong the pokemon is to start with. With that poochyena there it may take up to seven months, and with Steven's metagross it could take maybe three or four months." 

"That long?" 

"Well it exhausts the pokemon totally, unfortunately we had to take a bit from each member of Steven's team the other week, and since Metagross is the most powerful, we took the most from them." 

"You mentioned that Steven doesn't watch when you take energy. Does he typically watch?" 

"No, not usually, but every other time he has to watch to make sure things are running smoothly, but he refuses to watch his own pokemon." 

"Why is that? Is the process painful for them?" 

"Yes, it is. But it has to be done, it's for the good of the company." 

"I see..." She looked over at the machines and became horrified as she imagined Steven's team-all of whom she had become close to over the years-or even her own pokemon being tortured like this. "Say, girl, is this your first time doing an inspection? You sure do ask a lot of questions." 

"Just curious. I know Steven typically doesn't like talking about it." She clicked the pen again, turning off the recording device. "Thank you for your time, you may get back to your work." She put her things back in the bag, and as she was leaving she cast a glance back at the room with all the pokemon, feeling a pang of guilt for leaving them all there. 

She made it back to her apartment and flopped down on her bed, feeling exhausted. She began to cry into her pillow. "Aaaam?" Ampharos and her other pokemon sat by the bedside, concerned about her. "I just don't understand, Ampharos! How can he do this? Torture innocent pokemon! Even his own team! I don't get it!" Her pokemon continued to console her through the night until she finally fell asleep. Steven came back from Kanto tomorrow at noon and would be in the office. 

The next morning Corina put all the information she had gathered into a file which she placed in her bag. She left her apartment, mentally preparing herself to be back in that office. 

She walked in and took a deep breath. Steven was undoubtedly back in his office right now. She pulled out the box she brought with her and placed her things in there, if this was about to go as she thought, picking this up on the way out would be much easier. 

Clutching the file in her hands, she stepped into Steven's office. Suddenly the young man looked sinister behind his mahogany desk. "Ahh, Corina! You're in later than usual, listen, I need that report on the--" She slammed her file down in front of him on his desk and stood with arms crossed, waiting for him to open it. "What is this?"

"You'll find out when you open it." She spat. Cautiously, he opened the file, his smile fell immediately when he flipped through the pieces of incriminating evidence against Devon in there. "How did you get your hands on this?"

"It doesn't matter how I got this, what matters is what's in it! How dare you torture pokemon like this!?" 

"Corina, I--" 

"NO!" She interrupted him, rage was starting to bubble inside of her, taking over. "How could you do this!? How could you continue using such horrific energy sources!? Especially on your own pokemon! What kind of champion are you!? What kind of person are you!?" As she was berating him he looked down guiltily. She was getting so worked up she began pacing as she was shouting at him. "How could you do something like this!? Abusing the bonds of people and pokemon like this! This awful point in history gave us mega evolution, and you're using it as some tool to progress your stupid company! Do you have any idea what this means to me? A person who has rigorously studied mega evolution and the bond of people and pokemon, not to mention as a Kalos native who knows that history by heart! Do you have any comprehension of what you and your company have done!? Maybe you don't. Maybe you figure you're too good for the rules! Big-shot handsome rich-boy champion comes in and thinks "gee, I wonder if anyone will notice. And hey, even if they do, everyone loves me so much that they probably won't care anyway." Well I've got news for you, "heir to Devon": what you're doing is awful!" She stormed over to his desk and leaned over, glaring daggers into him. "I gave four years of my life to this horrific company--to you! You hypocrite! You fight against companies like Lysandre Labs, yet you're not that much better, are you! You were like a brother to me, you know that!?" She was panting, and her expression changed from fierce to sad. "You were like a brother to me... You were my savior. You know that? You took me out of Kalos and showed me so many of the things I'd never seen before. You taught me practically everything I know. You helped me get into business school. You helped me explorer new opportunities and helped me see new possibilities in everything. I came here to help make the world a better place like I'd always wanted." She fought back the tears as the anger started to resurface again. "I looked up to you, do you understand that!? I wanted to work here to help make the world a better place, but you deceived me just like everyone else! I'm willing to bet all the corrupted money I made here that you were never gonna let me in on this little secret of yours, were you!?"

His silence was her answer. 

"You know what? Fine. Keep your precious, pearly white reputation. I don't care anymore! Thanks for the wonderful recommendation letter, I'm done with your lies!"

"Corina, please don't--" 

"I QUIT!" She shouted in his face, turned on her heel and stormed out, but before she got to the door she turned around. "Oh, that little file there is a gift to you, I have many more copies. And I swear, if you continue these methods, I will do everything in my power to bring you and your little corporation burning to the ground. Goodbye, champion." She spat as she slammed the door behind her. 

She left the Devon building for the last time and caught the first flight home to Kalos, holding her emotions in the whole plane ride back. One her way home she hired a realtor to sell her apartment in Rustboro City, and another realtor to find her a new apartment in Lumiose. 

When she got off she dropped her things off at home before heading straight to the pokemon lab, needing something to distract her preoccupied mind. 

She knocked on the door and a familiar face answered. "C-Corina? What are you doing here in Lumiose?"

"Hey Alain. Is the Professor in?" He nodded and stepped back, allowing her to come inside. Sycamore and Leon must have heard her voice and they rushed out into the foyer. "Corina! What are you doing here!?" 

"I got a tad homesick so I decided to come home." She told a partial truth. "Well come on in! The pokemon haven't seen you in so long! They've missed you!" Leo led her back to the familiar sanctuary where all the pokemon were surprised and thrilled to see her. She let out her own pokemon to reunite with their old friends, Alain did the same. Corina said a special hello to Charizard, Tumi, and Garchomp, three of the ones she missed the most. "You should've told me you'd be coming home! I would've prepared something for you." 

"I didn't know I'd be coming home myself until today. I wouldn't have given you two much warning." 

"Did you just fly in?" Leon asked as he pet Eda's yellow fur. "I got the first flight home on Latias airlines, dropped my things off at home, now here I am!" She smiled. "Well it's great to see you, I've missed you." Alain smiled a tad and held her hand gently. "I've missed you too." 

The sun began to set, Corina spent the whole afternoon around the sanctuary, spending time with the pokemon and Sycamore while Alain finished working in the lab. 

"So Corina, how are things at Devon? Steven's not working you too hard, I hope." Her smile faded as she remembered the fight she had with him earlier that day. She looked down at the grass sadly. "What's wrong?" 

"I uh...I quit earlier today." 

"You what!?" The boys looked at her as though she had just made like a doduo and grew a second head. "I thought you liked working at Devon with Steven?" 

"Steven and I had a bit of a falling out. Business ideals. I don't really want to go into details about it." 

"You two were practically like siblings!" 

"Yeah...that's what I thought too." She wiped a tear from her eye. "I should be getting home, Dad is probably waiting for me there." 

"Okay well, I'm here if you need me, Corina." "Me too. Come on down if you need any of us." She nodded and returned her pokemon. When she entered the building she saw Alain looking at her worriedly. "You...quit?" Looking into his blue eyes she felt her eyes begin to water and she rushed into his arms and hugged him tightly. "I missed you so much, Alain." He hugged her back as well. "I missed you too, Corina." He let her cry into his lab coat for a minute before he leaned back to look in her red and puffy eyes. "Come on, let's get you home." He held her hand and left the lab with her, taking her home.


	37. A Change of Scenery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A while after Corina returns back to Lumiose City, she finds herself a new opportunity that her friends convince her is too good to pass up. Enjoy!

Corina and Alain were in the middle of testing some mega stones while Leon brought Professor Sycamore a coffee and watched the news behind her. "Check this out, they're looking for another president for Lysandre Labs." Corina scoffed. "Good luck to them, no one trusts them since the incident all those years ago." 

"Well their numbers have been up in the past few years." Sycamore pointed out. "Still, Lysandre almost destroyed the world. I understand if people are still skeptical." 

"They're accepting resumes for the next week for an interim position to see how things work out. Says here that they're looking for an outside hire. Makes sense, they don't want someone who was too closely associated with the old organization." Leon took a sip of his espresso. "Yeah, that's the mistake they've been making the past five years." Corina left the room to go feed the pokemon in the sanctuary. 

As the was setting down a bowl she looked up to see Alain walking over. "Hey there." 

"Hi." He kissed her cheek. "What's up?" 

"Corina, I think you should send in a resume to Lysandre Labs." Well that came out of the blue. She laughed a bit. "Surely you can't be serious, Alain. Did a mega stone fall on your head in there?" 

"I'm serious. With all your training at Steven's right hand, and your business school training, I think you could do it." 

"Alain, sweety, I was an executive assistant. I got his coffee in the morning and managed his schedule. And that was all to Steven, mind you." 

"Maybe so, but you were also his apprentice. He trusted you a great deal and let you handle a lot of important things for him while he was away. You sat in meetings with him, you know how to manage people. And it's not like anyone knows about...ya know, what Devon's been doing." He replied. He was the only person Corina told about where Devon's energy came from, because she knew that he wouldn't tell anyone. "You'd learn the ropes quickly, I know it." 

"That's really nice of you, Alain, but be practical. I hardly have the qualifications. I just only graduated business school six months ago." 

"I know, and I've been living with you since then. How many business tycoons do you know who actually went to business school? Not many people go to college nowadays." 

"Lysandre for one."

"Yeah, and look where he is now." 

"He was a great businessman. I mean, that's how he got so many people to follow him in the first place. Besides, I have all this time to be here at the lab with Leon and you and Professor Sycamore, and at the cafe with Dad." 

"Come on, Corina. We all know that this job is only temporary right now. You're not meant to stay in this lab forever." 

"But you're here, and the Professor is here with Leo." 

"I'm the Kalos Champion, I have a lot of things to keep me busy. And Sycamore is a certified Professor while Leon is training to work with him. Do you see yourself earning your doctorate any time soon?" 

"...No." She replied after a while. "See? I think you should go for it. At least promise me you'll think about it? I mean, it's not like you're going back to Devon anytime soon. And now we're moved in together...I'd rather you not go somewhere else." She smiled at him and held his hand. "So you'll think about it?" 

"I'll think about it." 

"Thank you." He smiled at her. 

 

Two weeks later and Corina was standing outside of the Lysandre Labs building waiting for her interview with Alain and Leon and Professor Sycamore and her father. "I can't believe you all talked me into doing the interview. There's no way I'm going to magically become the president of a huge corporation." 

"With my word of recommendation, it'll certainly give you a leg up." Sycamore smiled at her. "But this is ridiculous, right? There's no way this is gonna work." 

"At least you're giving it a shot." 

"I have no idea what I'm doing. I should just leave now before I humiliate myself." 

"No you won't, young lady. You're staying here and going through your interview." Her father stopped her before she could leave. "But Dad--" 

"Corina?" She turned around and saw a man standing behind her. "Yes, that's me." 

"We're ready for you." He smiled and gestured to the wooden double doors behind him. She smiled, put on her most confident posture. "Professor Sycamore?" 

"Hello Barry! Nice to see you." The man smiled and shook the Professor's hand. "You know Corina?" 

"I do, she's been working with me for a while now. Although I suppose that she'll tell you more about that in there." 

"Well good to see you. Come with me, Corina." Barry smiled and led her into the room. There was a long desk of people sitting on the far side of the room, and a chair on the other side that she sat in. Each of them had a copy of her resume in front of them, Barry sat across from her. "Everyone, this is Corina. Corina, we are the board of directors of Lysandre Labs, if you were to get the job, we'd be working closely together. Now, to start us off, why don't you tell us a little about yourself. Where you grew up and stuff." 

She took a deep breath. She could do this. 

"Well, I grew up here in Lumiose City, I know it like the back of my hand." She smiled. "My father and I manage a small bakery on South Boulevard, near Vert Plaza. Since my mother left when I was little it's been just my father and I, so we're really close. I have been interested in Science and Technology since I was a little girl, I actually read Professor Oak's whole report on the Pokedex when I was around nine years old." She chuckled a bit. "Right after I turned ten I started working at Professor Sycamore's lab as his assistant, it started off as just feeding the pokemon, then evolved from there to where I can handle most of the technology and research he puts in front of me. I didn't go on my journey until I was sixteen because my father never really let me leave Lumiose City, since I was his only family he was really scared of losing me, which of coarse I didn't quite understand until recently. When I was sixteen I ran away from home and Professor Sycamore gave me a key stone and an ampharosite for my partner. I traveled all across Kalos and met so many people and pokemon. I even went to Hoenn a couple times for research. The first was to find some mega stones, although I didn't find them I ended up getting two of my pokemon that are two of my partners today. The second time was when I met up with Steven Stone and the Kalos Champion to stop Primal Groudon and Primal Kyoger from destroying the Hoenn Region. Then after that I went to Alola and met Professor Kukui and learned about Z moves, and caught my Alolan Ninetales. Then I came back to Kalos for the Kalos League and fought against Lysandre. Then I went to Hoenn and worked with Steven Stone as his personal assistant and apprentice for four years, and since then I've been back home working with Professor Sycamore again." 

After she was finished the board looked at her shocked. "To get this straight, Ms. Corina, you have saved the world...twice?" 

"Well I didn't do it alone, I had other powerful trainers there with me." 

"How old are you again?"

"22 years old." They all shared some glances and Barry cleared his throat. "Anyway, moving on. Tell us about your time at Devon working for Steven Stone." Corina did her best to keep smiling while thinking of her time there. "Well at first it was just planning Steven's schedule and balancing his responsibilities to Devon and his responsibilities as Champion and getting his coffee, and while I still did that after four years we really gained each others trust and I suppose he began to see me as his apprentice, and himself my mentor. He let me sit in meetings with him, work closely with the Devon lab. I think if I were there longer I would've been moved from his assistant to a real management position." 

"Yes, it says here you quit from Devon, yet didn't say why, could you expand on that?" 

"Well that's a complicated answer. I suppose part of it was that my current boyfriend, Alain, and I were becoming more committed and were sick of spending so much time apart from each other. The other half is that Steven and I had a...falling out." 

"Personal? Or business?" 

"A bit of both I guess. Mostly business related." She thought for a moment on how to explain it without really explaining it. "He made some business decisions that I wouldn't have made." 

"Like what?" 

"Well... he...was selfish. Let's put it at that. He cared about the bottom line of the company and not how it was affecting others, like the people and pokemon we were supposed to be helping." 

"So if you were in charge, you would make lucrative sacrifices in order to help people?" 

"Without a second thought. All the Stones thought about were themselves. If I were in charge I would ensure that the main goal would be helping people, just like it was supposed to be." 

As the interview went on Corina confidently answered every question and felt somehow relaxed in front of this group of people who she knew were judging her every second. 

"Now Corina, one last question before you go." 

"Yes?" 

"If you were to get the job, what would be the first thing you change about the company?" She thought for a minute before answering. "The name." 

"The name?" 

"Yes. The name. Lysandre, although he founded this company, is spending the rest of his life in jail for almost destroying the world. He's not part of this company any more, and never will be again. When people hear the name Lysandre Labs, they don't think of the powerful company, they think of the maniac who almost killed everyone. The sooner we change things, the sooner we can get people to trust the company again." 

"And, what would you change it to? If you had the idea, surely you have a plan?" 

"Ho-Oh Labratories." 

"Ho-Oh? The legendary pokemon of the Johto Region? Why?" 

"Ho-Oh is a pokemon famous for giving life out of the ashes. It's a symbol of hope and resurrection, and I think it'd be a great representation of this company." Barry smiled a little. "Thank you, Corina. That'll be all for now." He stood and she did too, they shook hands. "You'll be hearing from us soon for a follow-up interview." 

"A-A follow up interview?" 

"Yes. We'll be sending you more information in the following days. Thank you for coming in." She gathered her things, said thank you and left. When the double doors shut the four men who came with her looked over. "Well? How'd it go?" 

"They're going to send me the dates for a follow-up interview." She replied, a little dazed. "That's wonderful, Corina! You're a contender!"

"I...had no idea that it would go that well." 

"Well we should start preparing you for your next interview! You could be their next president!" Sycamore said with a smile, leading them out of the building. 

About two weeks later, Corina had had another, more in depth interview with the board that she felt went about the same as the last one. It had been a few days and Corina was starting to become anxious. Alain came home to their penthouse apartment one night to see Corina watching the news and biting her thumb. "Still haven't heard anything?" He asked and shut the door. Corina only shook her head, eyes glued to the TV as they started talking about the Lysandre Labs development. "Corina, would you turn that off? It's only going to hurt you." 

"I can't, Alain, what if they announce someone else got the job?" He sat down next to her and placed a hand on her knee, she looked over at him. "What if I didn't get the job?" 

"I love you, Corina, but don't be stupid." 

"I'm serious, Alain! I'm only 22! I'm way too young to be the president of my own company." Just then Corina's phone rang, she sighed and answered. "Hello, Corina speaking."

"Hello Corina, it's Barry from the Lysandre Labs board of directors." Corina immediately sat up straight and tensed. "Hi Barry, what can I do for you?" Alain's eyes widened. "Well Corina, the board and I have talked it over carefully and have made the decision that you will be the next president of Lysandre Labs." Her heart stopped in her chest and her jaw dropped. "Well of coarse it won't be Lysandre Labs much longer since you're changing the name. Congratulations, Corina! You're the new president of Ho-Oh Labratories!" 

"Oh my goodness... thank you so much!" 

"We'll send you an email about this soon with information about the job. We'll announce this at a press conference in a week, does that sound okay?" 

"Y-Yeah!" 

"We're very excited to have you joining us, Corina." 

"I am-very excited-also. Thank you, Barry." She hung up and smiled at Alain. "I got the job!" He smiled back at her and he hugged her tightly. "See? What did I tell you." 

"Shut up, know-it-all." She smiled and kissed him, smiling and laughing after.


	38. Where We Fell In Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alain and Corina are very cute and I love writing them! Enjoy!

Corina was worried. Alain had been acting strangely lately and she couldn't tell why. He was quieter than usual, and he was distant. Avoiding her eye contact, spending more time than usual training or working at the lab, and whenever she asked he refused to tell her what was wrong, or he would just avoid the question all together. Corina had even begun to toy with the possibility of him cheating on her. 

She had dismissed it every time, of course, but she couldn't help but wonder. 

She was on her way to the lab. Alain had called her to ask for some help on a project. He sounded serious on the phone, his mind was somewhere else when he was talking to her, she could tell. Maybe now she would be able to force some information out of him as to why he'd been acting so strange. 

She stepped into the lab. "Alain?" She called out into the foyer. Professor Sycamore smiled at her as he was on his way to the greenhouse. "Oh Corina! Alain is waiting for you out here." She followed him outside to see Alain petting Charizard. "Alain? You wanted me?" 

"Oh-Yes." He sent Charizard away and Professor Sycamore walked back inside. The two were alone as the sun set outside, sending streams of orange light into the sanctuary. "What is it?" 

"I--I need to talk to you about something." 

"Are you finally going to tell me why you've been acting so strange for the past week and a half?" He scratched the back of his neck. "Am I that transparent?" 

"Yes. You are." She stepped over to him, her green eyes soft and kind. "Alain, if something is wrong you can tell me, you don't have to keep secrets from me." She frowned when he still didn't look up at her. He reached out and held her hand, he was shaking slightly and his palms were a little sweaty, but she only held on to him tighter. "Alain..." 

"I'm sorry I've been acting so distant lately, love. I just... I was thinking a couple days ago...about our relationship." Her heart was like a rock in her chest. Was he about to break up with her? "We've known each other for such a long time, since we were both ten years old. I even had a crush on you back then. And when I saw you again in Hoenn, I was reminded how much I care about you..." He finally met her eyes. There was something in his bright blue eyes that she had only seen a few times. "When you saw that I was working for Lysandre, I was so happy when you said you forgave me. I was so frightened that you wouldn't accept my apology. Both you and Marin. I love you, Corina, and I'm so lucky every day to be able to love you. I wanted to meet you here because...well...this is where I fell in love with you, Corina. So this is where I ask you to marry me." He said as he knelt on the ground, still holding her hand, and holding out a beautiful diamond ring in the other. "Corina, will you marry me?" 

Her legs felt weak and her hand instantly went to her face in total shock. This is why he's been acting so strangely. Not because he was cheating or because he wanted to break up, but because he was going to propose to her. 

Excitedly, and with tears brimming her eyes she nodded "yes" and sat in front of him to hug him tightly. She was smiling ear to ear. After a moment, she sat back so Alain could help her slip the ring on her finger, but both of them were shaking and laughing so much that it took a minute. She kissed him happily, wrapping her arms around his neck. They broke apart when Professor Sycamore yelled "She said yes!!!" They both looked over to thee bushes on the other side of the lake to see the Professor hiding there with all the pokemon and Leon, all of them smiling and cheering. "Professor! Leon! I told you two not to watch!" Alain complained, blushing a bit while Corina laughed. "Sorry, Alain! Congratulations you two!" "It's about time if you ask me!" 

"Thanks you guys!" Corina laughed. Alain seemed embarrassed that the professor and Leon had heard everything he said, but Corina made him feel better by kissing his cheek. 

The couple stood up. "We should go tell my father!" Corina exclaimed excitedly. "Well he already knows I was going to ask you. I went to see him after I bought the ring."

"You did?" 

"I wanted to make sure he was okay with it." 

"Was he?" Corina asked and he smiled and nodded. "He is." Corina smiled again and took his hand, still shaking a bit from excitement. "We should still go tell him, then we'll call my mother." She smiled and lead him outside of the lab to the cafe. 

 

A week or so later...

Steven Stone walked back into his penthouse apartment in Rustboro City after a long day of work. He took off his jacket and turned on the TV, taking a deep breath. "In celebrity news, Kalos Champion, Alain, and his girlfriend, Corina, the current CEO of Ho-Oh Labs have gotten engaged--" He looked up to the screen when he heard the words "Alain" "Corina" and "engaged" in the same sentence. "--and they plan on being married in August of next year. They have explicitly stated that this will be a private event, and all paparazzi will be thrown out of the wedding. We're all wishing them congratulations from here in the Hoenn Region." 

Steven set his jacket down on the couch as the lady finished talking about Corina and Alain. He smiled to himself a bit. "Good for them." He said to himself and stepped into his bedroom.


	39. Bad Blood

Cameras flashed and music blared as Corina and Alain made their way into the main ballroom. The last time Corina attended this event was a few years ago when she accompanied Steven. That was her first time going and she made many acquaintances with important people in the business world there, and it was thanks to those connections that she was now chairwoman of the newest corporation in Kalos "Ho-Oh Laboratories". They rose out of the ashes that Lysandre Labs had gone down in after Lysandre himself was arrested, that's how Corina came up with the new name. Many of her friends, peers, and colleagues were very impressed that a girl of only twenty three years old could become the head of such an important company, and be doing a good job at it. Although she knew that one of the main reasons she was hired was because the board was worried the people wouldn't trust an executive that Lysandre had promoted before he revealed himself as the leader of Team Flare.

The young couple walked out to the top of the steps that overlooked the ballroom and the paparazzi started shouting their names trying to get their attention, Corina just smiled and waved to all the cameras she could, and Alain seemed a little overwhelmed by the cameras. "You didn't have to come with me tonight." She whispered over to him "I'm your fiance, I wanted to come." He replied and smiled a little at her. She hooked her arm around his and they walked together down the steps, away from the cameras to join everyone else. She and Alain were considered quite the power couple in Kalos, her being the head of Oh-Oh Labs and Alain being the current Kalos Champion.

As Corina mingled around she saw familiar faces, and faces of those she only knew from business magazines and the news. The entire time Alain never left her side, he may be the Champion, but meeting new people at social events were never totally his thing. But it wasn't until a certain man made his way over to Corina that Alain decided now would be a good time to go to the restroom, and leave the two alone. Corina's green eyes narrowed dangerously at him as he tried to smile a greeting. "What do you want, Steven?" Her old friend and boss stood in front of her awkwardly and his forced smile faded.

"Look, Corina, I know you're still upset with me, but I need to talk this out with you."

"No we do not. As far as I care you're my competitor and its best we leave it that way. My Company helps people and pokemon, yours uses their lives to build your machines."

"Not so loud, please, Corina."

"Why did you even come over to talk to me? Didn't I tell you that I never want to see you again?"

"Yes. Yes you did do that. But I also came over here to ask if perhaps our boards could have a meeting in the future, my company has a deal that could be mutually beneficial."

"Really. You want our companies to do business together? What makes you think Ho-Oh Laboratories would want anything to do with you after knowing what I know about Devon? Are you out of your mind?"

"But Corina-"

"Nice try, Steven, but buzz off." She turned and left him there, off to find Alain. She needed him to make her feel better. 

When she finally did find him she was trying to calm herself down. "What did he want?" Alain asked and she rolled her eyes. "He wanted to talk about a deal, can you believe it? Ugh- he's so arrogant." 

"Would you like to leave?" Corina thought for a moment and shook her head. "No, I'm fine." She smiled and held her fiance's hand. "Come on, let's go get a drink." He smiled supportively at her and kissed her cheek. The couple walked around and talked to many powerful business owners and investors who were eager to meet her and congratulate her on her engagement. 

Then, the host of the party, a popular Kalos pop star, announced that it was time for the closing events, a battle that everyone attending entered via raffle. Everyone was automatically entered when they walked in and would participate in a two-on-two battle against one other person. He had a glass bowl filled with sheets of paper next to him and he read off the first name. "Hoenn Champion and heir to the Devon Corporation, Steven Stone will be one of the lucky battlers!" There was clapping among the crowd, but Corina and Alain kept their hands to their sides. "And up against him will bee..." He reached in and pulled out another slip of paper. "The head of the new Ho-Oh Laboratories, Corina!" Corina's eyes shot wide open in surprise and many people clapped, turning to smile at her. "Looks like it's mentor against apprentice tonight! Let's see what happens!" The pop star shouted excitedly. "Don't be too hard on him, we don't want to tear down the building." Alain whispered in her ear. "Watch me." Corina whispered back to him before kissing his cheek and walking towards the portable battle field.

She stood across from Steven, glaring daggers across at him. "This will be a two-on-two battle that will go until either side is out of able pokemon. Items and power-ups are allowed. Release your pokemon!" The ref shouted and Corina threw out her partner, Ampharos and Steven sent out Metagross. "Predictable as always, Steven." 

"Battle begin!" 

"Meteor Mash!" 

"Cotton Guard!" Ampharos built up a thick wall of cotton just in time. After a short struggle, Metagross' move wore off. "Why don't we jump to the point, hm? Metagross! Mega evolve!" 

"How predictable can you be, Mr. Stone? Ampharos! Mega evolve!" 

Both pokemon finished evolving. "Discharge!"

"Flash cannon!" 

"Use dragon pulse!" 

"Psychic!" 

"Discharge again!" 

"Psychic to stop the attack!" The electric strike was stopped short, but by being held by the psychic it exploded, damaging both pokemon. They were both fainted. Corina returned her partner and glared at Steven. "Metagross didn't seem up to its normal strength. I hope he's feeling alright." She said pointedly. "Go Aerodactyl!" Steven released his next pokemon and Corina released Lani, her Alolan Ninetales. "Dazzling gleam!" Corina commanded. "Rock slide!" 

"Ice beam!" 

"Fire fang!" Lani was almost down on health. Corina held up her Z-crystal on her wrist. Sensing the activation, Lani began to glow with the power of the Icium Z she held. "Subzero Slammer!" The powerful ice type move was unleashed against Aerodactyl and it fainted, making Corina the winner, but she couldn't take joy in her victory. But because many of her colleagues were watching her, and there was paparazzi taking pictures, she walked over and shook his hand, a deathly tight grip on his hand. "I hope your pokemon aren't sick, Steven. You shouldn't have been able to beat me." She hissed in a low tone before turning and walking off the field to her fiance, smiling for the cameras.


	40. Just Like Me

Corina stood on the other side of the bolted door of the maximum security prison just outside Lumiose City. She nodded to the prison guard who turned a key in a lock and pressed his hand against a scanner, opening the large door with a loud alarm sound. She waited patiently until the door was open all the way and stepped through. On the other side was a large jail cell. It wasn't a normal cramped cell, like it should have been. It was spacious and had elements of luxury despite the metal walls, ceiling, floor, and bars. There was a fancy rug along the ground, fine leather furniture, a lavish king size bed, and a TV sitting on a table across from a couch and a tall chair. Although the back of the chair was to her, she could see a man sitting cross legged and drinking a coffee from a fine china cup, watching financial news on the TV. The alarm finally stopped when the door shut behind her once more with a loud clang, and the turning gears of the locks setting back into place.

She stood there in silence, waiting for the man to acknowledge her presence in front of his cell. After a moment he set the cup back down on a saucer and placed it on a side table gently. He stood from his chair, looking exactly the same as he did the day he was arrested. He turned and she looked up at him, his blue eyes locking with her green eyes. He still had that same stoic look. "Hello Lysandre. You know who I am, I presume." 

"I don't know, we don't have much connection with the outside world in her." He replied in a smooth tone, the voices from the television still murmuring in the background. "Right." 

"I do recognize you. You're Alain's little girlfriend, aren't you?" She narrowed her eyes and placed her arms around her back, keeping her tall posture and composure in front of this intimidating man. "I'm his wife, thank you." 

"Oh that's right, I remember hearing that from somewhere." He feigned recollection. "I'm not here to catch up with you, Lysandre. In fact, I think you know why I'm here." 

"Why would that be?" She snarled a bit and stepped closer to the metal bars. "I know you've placed contacts within my company. They've all been fired and arrested for aiding you." His deceitful smile faded into a neutral frown. "You're in jail for the rest of your life for the crimes you've committed. You gave up the right to control the company the moment you founded Team Flare. I am the head of Ho-Oh Labs now, not. you." He stepped closer to the bars, his chin high and looking down at her. "You naive, pathetic, child." He spat. "You have no experience running an empire like the one I created. You stripped me of my work, and my legacy, I'm not about to let some ignorant brat run something I spent my whole life creating." 

"Your legacy will be exactly what it should be, Lysandre. A deluded criminal who almost destroyed the entire world because he was obsessed with "beauty"." 

"The world I would have created was just beyond your puny, unimaginative minds." 

"Leave my company alone, Lysandre. I've become very powerful. I can make all of this," She gestured to the cell "all go away just like that." She snapped. "We'll see." He replied and she turned, about to leave. "How is Alain?" He asked. She stopped and turned back around to face him. "Better than he ever was under your thumb. He's a powerful and generous champion, helping people just like I am." 

"You may be high and mighty now, but the more you stick with this company, the more you'll come to understand me, Corina. And the more you'll understand the Devon Corporation as well." She furrowed her eyebrows. "You know." 

"Of coarse I know. My company helped them develop it." Corina was silent a moment, the image of the machines in the basement of the Devon Corporation flashing in her mind. "That was your company, Lysandre. Ho-Oh Labs is mine. We will never stoop as low as you and the Stone family have. Never." 

"You just wait, Corina. In no time you'll be just like me." 

"Back off of my company, Lysandre. Or else." She turned and knocked on the door. It opened and she left the criminal alone once more, retrieving her pokemon again on her way out of the prison. 

As she stepped in her black luxury sedan to go back home, she couldn't help but wonder if Lysandre was right. Could she really become just like him and Steven?


	41. Oh Brother(s)

"I don't know, Mom." Corina looked away from her mother's image over the phone. "They'd really like to see you." She looked over and saw Alain walking through the door. "Alain just got home, I should go." 

"Okay, talk to you soon, Corina." 

"Bye, Mom." She sat up from the phone and went to go greet Alain. He let go of his suitcase and smiled at her. "Hi Corina." 

"Welcome back, mon chou." She hugged her husband. "How was Alola?" She asked, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "It was too hot." She laughed as he took his bag to the bedroom. "How was the battle tree? Did you win?" 

"The Alolan trainers are strong." He replied in a defeated way, telling her he had a hard time winning. "Was that your mother you were talking to?" 

"Yes. She wants me to go to Hoenn to meet my brothers." 

"You still don't want to go?"

"Not really. I mean, for one thing, it's going back to Hoenn. I told myself I'd never go back there." 

"They are your family, Corina. You've been on good terms with your mom for a while now." Corina sighed and sat on the couch, Alain sitting next to her, placing a calming hand on her leg. "I know. But I've got the company, and you literally just got home." 

"We can talk about this more at dinner tonight." He kissed her forehead and smiled a little at her before going to the bedroom to unpack. 

Corina was dressed in a tan loose top with a gold thin belt and a short pinkish skirt, and was slipping into some corked heels when Alain stepped out of the bedroom in a blue dress shirt and a pair of black pants. "Ready to go, mon chou?" she called to him and he smiled and nodded, now in her heels she was his equal height. He smiled and nodded. He opened the door and placed a hand on her back as he led her out of the penthouse apartment. 

They walked around Lumiose City together, people snapping pictures of them along the way. Finally, they arrived at the very upscale restaurant. The hostess immediately recognized them and smiled, performing a polite bow. She led them to a table for four where Professor Sycamore and Leon were waiting. They smiled and greeted the couple warmly when they arrived. "Professor! Leon! It's so good to see you!" 

"It's nice to see you both too, I'm glad you both had a night off!" 

"Me too. Everything has been crazy at the labs developing the new edition of the Holo Caster." Corina replied with a sigh. "And how about you, Champion? How was your trip to Alola?" Leon asked. "Trainers keep getting stronger every day. Charizard and I like to have a challenge." 

"Indeed you do. I can't believe it's been so long since I've seen you. You have really settled in to married life, haven't you?" 

"Of coarse! And the apartment is great, and there's a lot of space, and the roof is a great place for all the pokemon." 

They all continued to chat through dinner, the four of them catching up and talking about developments in their lives and their work. After they had finished eating Corina smiled when the owner and elite four member, Siebold stepped out of the kitchen and approached their table. "Hello, did you all enjoy your meals?" 

"Hello Siebold! We did indeed." 

"You really are an incredible chef." They all complimented and he smiled softly. "Thank you all, it's always a pleasure to have the four of you here." 

"Siebold, would you happen to have a moment?" Alain asked, rolling up his sleeve to subtly show off his key stone bracelet. Siebold smiled and adjusted his collar, drawing attention to his key stone. "So predictable, Alain. I would love to go out up to the roof battlefield with you. Will your friends be joining us this evening?" Alain looked over at them and Corina placed her hand on his. "You and Leon can go on ahead, I'd like to talk to the Professor about what we were discussing earlier." He nodded and went to stand, Corina's hand lingering on his. "Hey," He looked back at her as she smiled. "Don't go easy on him." He smiled a bit, the old fire coming to his vibrant eyes. "I never do." She squeezed his hand and let him go to the battlefield with Siebold and Leon. 

"So, what is it?" Sycamore asked from across the table. Suddenly Corina's smile fell a bit. "It's my mother." 

"Oh?" 

"She wants me to go to Hoenn and meet my brothers and my stepfather." He nodded in understanding. "And you don't want to?" 

"I just...I don't know if I'm ready for this." 

"Corina, you've been developing a good relationship with Maria for a long time now. I feel like you're putting this off." 

"Besides, I swore I'd never go back to Hoenn." 

"Corina..." 

"And she lives in Mossdeep City working at the Space Station now, and Steven lives there. What if the twins see me and call Steven? He'll come over and try to talk to me." She said the last part with a gag. "The twins?" 

"Tate and Liza." He nodded. "Well Corina, I think it's a risk you ought to take. And considering the line of work you've chosen for yourself, it was unreasonable to believe you'd never go back to Hoenn." She huffed a bit. "You're right."

"Besides, Leon and I were planning on travelling to Hoenn anyway to meet with Professor Birch. So we'd be happy to accompany you and Alain if you were to go." She was quiet a moment, her eyebrows furrowed together as she thought. She looked back up at him. "You really think I should go?" 

"As usual, Corina, I'm not going to tell you what to do, I can only provide you advice and let you make your own choice. But yes, I think it's about time you should. When you're my age, you'll realize that time is very precious, and you'll want as much time with your family as you can." Corina sighed, still in thought, but brightened up when Leon, Alain, and Siebold made their way back to the table. "How did it go?" Sycamore asked as the boys sat back down. "As always, Alain proves to be a formidable opponent." The chef replied, sounding worn out. "Great job, mon chou." Corina smiled at him. 

The meal ended and Corina and Alain made their way back to their apartment. "Well? What did the Professor say?" 

"What do you think he said?" 

"He told you you should go?" 

"He did." 

"Well?" 

"Well...Do you think you could get a couple days off to travel to Mossdeep?" Alain smiled the slightest bit. "We're going?" 

"It's about time I meet my family." 

Corina and Alain sat near the front of their private jet as they descended into Mossdeep City while Professor Sycamore and Leon sat near the back going over some research. Corina was messing with the hem of her skirt as she gazed out the window. Her stomach was churning, and her heart felt like it was going to burst from her chest. Suddenly, Alain's hand was placed on hers gently. She looked over at him to see him smiling softly at her. "Corina, it'll be fine. I'm sure your brothers will be thrilled to meet you." 

"I-It's not that. I just don't like flying." She looked back out the window. "Mon Lumiere." She turned back to him and he wrapped her hands in his. "Everything will be fine, stop worrying. It doesn't suit you." He kissed her forehead gently and Corina smiled, leaning into him. "Of coarse." 

The plane smoothly slid onto the runway and pulled over to the private gate where the driver, car, and her mother were waiting there for them. 

They stepped out of the airplane and stepped up to Maria. "I'm so glad you were able to make it!" 

"Hi, Mom." They hugged. "I know you're nervous, but believe me, the boys are just thrilled to meet you." Corina smiled and Maria turned to Alain. "Alain, so nice to see you again. I haven't seen you since the wedding." 

"Hello, Maria." She looked behind them and her face softened from excitement as Sycamore and Leon walked over. "Augustine. It's been so long." 

"Too long, Maria. I know we saw each other in Rustboro, but we never had a proper conversation." He hugged her. "And this must be Leon." 

"Hello! It's nice to officially meet you, I've heard a lot about you from Dad and Corina."

"I haven't seen you since you were a baby the wedding was so crowded, I didn't get to see you or Augustine! And is that a key stone tying up your hair?" 

"Yes! Dad gave it to me for my birthday a couple years ago." 

"You'll have to introduce me to your pokemon." 

"I'd love to!" 

"Well, we should be going, hmm?" She ushered the couple into the car and it drove off out of the airport. 

They arrived at the house near the outside of the city bordering the ocean and the car pulled into the driveway. It was a nice two story place that looked comfortable and homey. The car door opened and they all stepped outside. Alain placed a hand on Corina's shoulder. "You ready?" She took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah. I've delayed this too long, now." Maria smiled and opened the front door, stepping inside. "We're back!" They walked into the living room to see a tall, burly man with dark skin and thick but graying black hair who looked to be around Maria's age wearing a typical sailor's uniform. Then there were two younger boys, looking two and four years younger than her respectively. The older one had neat, dark brown hair, thick eyebrows, and growing a bit of stubble along his chin looked about twenty four years old. Then the younger one had dark purple hair that was styled neatly out of his face, and he wore a pair of thin red eyeglasses and looked about twenty two.

"Boys, this, is Corina, and her husband, Alain with Professor Sycamore and his son, Leon, who are going to be visiting the Space Center for some research. Corina, this is my husband, Ace." She gestured to the sailor. "This is my eldest son, Otto." He smiled, looking somewhat nervous. "And this is my youngest, Dmitri." He smiled widely at her. "Hi Corina! It's nice to meet you! Mom has told us so much about you!" Dmitri smiled. "Not to rush out, but Leon and I should be heading to the Littleroot Town to meet Professor Birch." Sycamore said. "I hope we have the chance to get to know each other." He bid farewell to Maria. "If you see Steven, tell him I'm not here." 

"Corina--" 

"Please, Professor." It took him a moment, but he nodded. "See you soon, Corina." He left with his son, who showed her a thumbs up on the way out. She turned back to her family. 

"So Corina, Mom has already told us a lot about you, but why don't you introduce yourself to us." Otto suggested, sitting back on the couch beside his brother. Corina and Alain sat on the love-seat while Maria and Ace went to the kitchen to fetch some refreshments. "Well, I spent most of my life in Lumiose City. I worked in a bakery with my Dad until I was sixteen and left for my journey. I was collecting research for Professor Sycamore on mega evolution. Then I left Kalos to work at the Devon Corporation, then quit to finish business school and spend time with Alain, then I have been working as the CEO of Ho-Oh Labs and am married to the Kalos Champion." She chuckled a bit and Alain smiled, looking a little embarrassed that she brought it up. "I still can't believe we have a champion as our brother-in-law!" Dmitri smiled excitedly. "He's never really been a champion to me. To me, we're still kids working together in the Professor's lab." She smiled and held Alain's hand, and he smiled a bit too. "Mom has told me a lot about you guys too, but why don't you tell me?" 

"Well, I'm going to be moving to Alola soon. I got a job at a magazine as a photographer! I've always loved capturing wildlife, so soon I'll be able to do that in a beautiful region like Alola. Have you ever been there?" Otto asked, "It's been a long time. I went there to meet Professor Kukui. I was there for maybe a week? It's absolutely gorgeous there. I hope to go back soon and meet with the Aether Foundation." 

"Yeah! They have so many rare pokemon there, it's incredible!"

"You've wanted to be a photographer for a while?" 

"I have!" 

"What about you, Dmitri?" He smiled. "I just graduated from Mauville's education program, so hopefully soon I can find a job as a teacher." 

"Oh really? What do you want to teach?" 

"Well, I hope I can be a history professor. I just find it so fascinating!" 

"What time period?" 

"Ancient Hoenese history. It's such an interesting time period. New mega evolution, tales of legendary pokemon, the draconid people." 

"That's awesome, Dmitri!" 

"Yeah, just wait a couple years. You'll get tired of little Dmi testing out his lesson plans on you." Otto teased and Corina giggled. "Dmi? Is that a nickname?" 

"Yeah! You can call me that if you want, big sis." Something in her stomach flipped when he called her "big sis". But not in a bad way, no, not at all. It felt...nice. Like it was right. She smiled. "That sounds nice." 

"But I'm sure what we do isn't as cool as being the CEO of a big company! Or the Kalos champion!" She smiled a bit, slightly sheepish. "It has its perks. But it sure does keep the two of us busy. Our schedules can be all over the place between my meetings with other executives, and visitors from other regions, and our scientists, and Alain's interviews and League Association meetings and training. I'm glad we were able to get a few days here to come to Hoenn and meet you." 

"You two have Pokemon, right?" 

"Yeah. Do you guys want to meet them?" They both looked excited. "So long as you'd like to meet ours!" 

They all walked outside. The porch led straight to a private bit of beach, and out to a dock where a speedboat and a fisherman's boat were tied up. They all released their Pokemon, all of them happy to get some sun and fresh air. Otto released a Talonflame, a Combusken, a Dewgong, and a Liligant. Dmitri released an Espeon, a Venasaur, a Swampert, and a Mienshoa. Corina's pokemon and Alain's pokemon were all playing around the beach happily. "Wait, are those mega stones on your pokemon?" Dmitri saw Eda's, Hermes', and Arbor's mega stones, and Charizard's, Metagross', and Tyranitar's mega stones as well. "Yeah! We either found all of them, or they were given to us." Corina smiled. "I have a key stone too!" Dmitri took off his glasses and showed them the key stone imbeded in the metal along the side. "We should have a battle! My Swampert is really strong!" She looked over at Alain, who, at the mention of a mega evolution battle, looked almost excited. "I am not much for battling, but I think Alain would be more than thrilled to accept a challenge." Corina said, looking over at her husband with a knowing smirk on her face. "Well Alain? Brother? What do you say?" Alain looked over at his partner, Charizard, and smiled. 

Dmitri and Alain were standing across from each other on the beach, their partners out in front of them while Corina, Otto, and all the pokemon watched from the sidelines. "Let's start things interesting, shall we!" Alain lifted up his arm and touched it to his key stone. "Charizard! Mega evolve!" Charizard transformed into the familiar black and blue partial dragon type, and looked pumped for a battle. Dmitri smiled "I'm liking your style, champion!" He touched the side of his glasses and his Swampert transformed. 

As their battle went on, Corina was enjoying the sunshine of the beach, Arbor curling next to Eda. "So Otto, when do you go to Alola?" 

"A few months, actually. You should come visit me some time. Both you and Alain. It sounds like your work gets pretty stressful sometimes." 

"Hey there." They looked behind them and Maria and Ace walked out, holding some glasses of lemonade on a tray. "Care for a drink?" 

"I'd love one." Corina smiled and took one, turning back to continue watching the battle between her husband and her brother. "Seems like Alain and Dmitri are getting along." 

"This is Alain's way of making friends." Corina chuckled, watching him and Charizard getting excited by the challenge of going against a water type pokemon. "And I see you've let out all your Pokemon." Ace observed. "Don't mind if I do as well." He opened his pokeballs and released a Pelipper and a Machamp, and a Wailord out in the water. Maria released her pokemon as well: her Pachirisu, her blue Floette, Tsereena, and her Eastern Shellos. 

She turned back to Otto. "I would love to come to Alola and visit you some time. Maybe if Alain and I are especially lucky we can come back and see you off." 

"I'd love that!" He smiled, then noticed Arbor and Eda sunbathing together. "Aww! Are those two a couple?" Corina looked back and smiled. "Yes they are! Eda has an appointment with a breeder soon to see if she and Arbor will have an egg." 

"That's so cute! And...speaking of couples, I have to ask..." 

"Yes?" she took a sip of the cool lemonade, "Just between you and me. Were you and Steven Stone ever really a couple?" She did a partial spit-take and burst out with an almost bitter laughter. "Arceus, no! I could never be at all romantically involved with anyone from the Stone family, much less Steven for that matter." 

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to offend you in any way." She waved a hand at him. "No, no. Don't worry about it. You're not the first person to ask, and you won't be the last, I'm sure." The battle was over with Charizard as the winner, and both pokemon returned back to their normal state. Dmitri revived his pokemon. "Wow! It's no wonder you're a champion, Alain!" 

"You have raised your Swampert very well, it wasn't an easy win." Alain smiled and walked back over to Corina, sitting beside her in the sandy grass. "Great job, mon chou." She smiled and handed him a glass of the lemonade. "And good job to you too, Charizard." She smiled as the fire type leaned his head down to receive some praise too. She scratched under his chin and he purred happily. 

A few days passed and Corina found herself getting along with her brothers and step father with no problem, they all were welcoming and excited to meet with her. It was her and Alain's second to last day there, and she was almost sad to be leaving Hoenn and her family. They were relaxing on the beach together, when suddenly Maria had to go back inside for a moment. "Why's she going back inside in such a hurry?" Corina asked as she leaned in Alain's lap. "She has an investor in the Space Center stopping by to pick up some files." Ace replied. "Who's the investor?" 

"She didn't say. Some big shot apparently." He shrugged. "Well, if he's got big pockets, maybe he'd be a good person to know." She stood up and headed inside. The sliding door shut behind her and she looked up, and instantly her face fell. Her mother whipped around, behind her was Steven Stone. The man looked at Corina in shock and she stared back in surprise, and confusion, and a bit of bitterness. "Mom? What is he doing here?" Corina asked, switching her burning gaze from Steven to Maria. "Well, Steven is an investor with the Space Center. I wasn't about to tell him you were here, Corina." 

"Corina... What...Why?" Steven mumbled out. It had been quite a while since he had seen her. "I'm here visiting my family. Not here to see you in case you had that hope in your mind." She shot at him. "I didn't....I had no idea you were here..." 

"Whatever. Get what you need from my Mom and leave." She turned and opened the sliding door to head back outside. "Corina--wait--" Steven tried to stop her, but she slammed the door shut behind her and marched back down the beach. The others heard her slam the door and looked up expectantly. "Who was it?" 

"Steven Stone." She replied through grit teeth and plopped back down next to her husband, radiating anger and tenseness. Alain looked at her worriedly and placed a hand on her arm. "Are you okay?" 

"I'll be fine so long as he doesn't come out here and try to talk to me." Corina closed her eyes and tried taking deep breaths to calm down. "What's the matter?" Otto asked. "Yeah, I thought you and Steven were friends?" Dmitri added. "I guess Mom never told you. When I left Devon, it wasn't on the best of terms. Let's just say we had a falling out and leave it at that." 

"A falling out? About what?" 

"It's not important. Let's just forget about him and enjoy our last day here." Corina brushed off the topic and leaned against Alain for comfort. 

The final day came around and Corina and Alain were saying goodbye to their family. "It was so nice to finally meet you, Corina." Ace smiled. "It was nice to meet all of you too. I'm sorry it took me so long to finally come and visit you." She frowned. "Don't worry about it, big sis! We'll see you again soon for Otto's going away party, right?" 

"If Alain and I can get away, then sure! I'm sorry I can't make any promises though." 

"We'll be in touch. Maybe we can come visit Lumiose City soon! I've always wanted to see it. And maybe we can meet your Dad?" 

"Yeah, maybe!" 

"We should be going now, Corina." 

"Oh! Right! Well, bye everyone!" She hugged them all and waved as they drove away to the airport. "Well?" Alain asked as they were well on their way. "Well what, mon chou?" 

"What did you think? Of your brothers and stepdad?" Corina smiled. "I'm going to miss them in Lumiose." Alain smiled a little too. "I knew it wouldn't be that bad." 

"You were right, you were right. Don't be hanging it over my head." She teased, giggling. Alain chuckled as well. "Mairin will be in Lumiose City next week, she's hoping she can visit us." Corina smiled. "That sounds wonderful, let her know I look forward to it." 

They arrived at the airport and flew back home to Kalos.


	42. New Steps

((This page uses my friend's oc named Zayla! Their art is amazing! Go follow them on instagram and on wattpad

@NettoKari ))

 

Corina woke up in the hotel suite in Mossdeep City feeling groggy and sick, almost lightheaded. Alain was already in the shower, getting ready, but Corina was lying in bed, feeling awful. He stepped out of the shower, in the process of drying his hair. "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, noticing how miserable she looked. "I feel awful." He sat beside her, running a hand through her hair gently. "Are you going to be okay to go to Otto's sending off party?" 

"Yeah. I think so..." 

"Maybe you'll feel better after a shower, hmm?" She groaned a bit and Alain smiled warmly. "Come on, mon lumiere." He helped her up out of bed and took her to get washed up in the shower. 

After a while, and some rest, Corina was feeling better so they left the hotel to go to her mother's place and celebrate that her younger brother, Otto, was going to Alola for a job. When they arrived everyone was so thrilled to see them. There was her family, and people she assumed to be family friends since she didn't recognize them. "Otto!" 

"Big sister! Alain!" He smiled. "I'm so happy you two could be here today!" 

"Of coarse! This is a big deal to you! And Alain and I could use the break from work, if I'm honest." She smiled. "Well please! Enjoy yourselves! You can let your pokemon out out back if you'd like. Maybe you and I can have a rematch, Alain." 

"I'd be happy to." Alain smiled and Corina caught a glimpse of her mother on the other side of the room. The couple made their way over to Maria and Ace who smiled widely when they saw them walking over. "Alain! Corina! It's so good to see you two!" 

"Hi Mom!"

"When Alain called me this morning saying you weren't feeling well, I was worried. How are you? Are you sure you can be here?" 

"Don't worry, Mom. I was feeling sick this morning, but I'm fine now." 

"It's almost funny, you don't look pale or anything. What felt bad this morning?" Ace asked. "I was just felt all nauseous and tired. Sometimes a bit of cramping in my stomach, but it's totally fine." Corina smiled. "Have you gotten sick?" 

"A couple days ago I did, but really, I'm fine. I'm just trying not to touch anyone and get them sick too. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to grab a snack from the kitchen." Corina was about to walk off when her mother grabbed her hand. "Mom? What is it?" 

"Can you and Alain join me in the study for a moment? I need to discuss something important with you." Corina and her husband exchanged a worried glance, but followed her mother into the quiet study. The two sat on a couch across from the desk, and her mother sat on the edge of the desk. "How long have you been feeling sick, Corina?" 

"I don't know. It's been on and off a couple weeks. Really, Mom, I'm fine--" 

"When was the last time you two had sex?" Corina's face flushed and she felt Alain become extremely tense and uncomfortable next to her. "M-Mom!?" 

"Corina, have you gone to a doctor yet?" 

"N-No! I will when I get back to Kalos, what are you--" 

"I think you need to see a doctor while you're here. I got my doctorate in science, so I'm no expert, but I think you two should go see an obstetrician." Corina's eyes went wide. "An obstetrician?" Alain repeated, not knowing the term. "A pregnancy doctor." Maria clarified. "Oh." 

"Mom, you think I'm--pregnant?" 

"It sounds likely. You should stop by the pharmacy and pick up some tests on your way back to the hotel." The two were stunned silent. "Well, I should be getting back to my son's party. I'l...give you two a minute." Maria stood and left the room. 

Both of them were quiet for a moment, neither of them knowing what to do or say. 

"So..." 

"So...." 

"What do we do with this information bomb?" 

"I...I don't..." 

"We're both very public figures, especially in Kalos. If the papparazzi sees me buying pregnancy tests, or going to an obstetrician's office, then they'll... If I am pregnant, I don't want a lot of people knowing about it yet... Especially when...we haven't processed it ourselves..." 

"Maybe your mom can buy some for us?" Alain suggested and Corina nodded. "Yeah...maybe..." 

"We should...get back to the party?" Corina nodded slowly and cleared her throat. "Yeah...let's go." She stood, Alain quickly at her side. They both went to the party and continued to enjoy themselves as if they weren't distracted by the possibility. 

While Corina waited for her mother to buy her some pregnancy tests, she couldn't help thinking about her baby--if she had one or not. She was imagining getting a proper house in Lumiose, fit for a family, whether or not she'd want a son or daughter, what they'd look like, what their name would be. She imagined her parents being grandparents, the Professor giving her child a pokemon, Leon being an uncle to them. It was all so perfect and beautiful in her head. She and Alain had talked about kids once or twice, but hadn't taken it much farther than "yeah, that'd be nice". Now that it was possible that it was real, Corina felt happy at the vision in her head. If she wasn't pregnant, that'd need to be a conversation to have with Alain. 

Afternoon turned to evening and Corina congratulated Otto again, took the box of tests subtly from Maria, and went back to the hotel room. Alain waited, pacing in the bedroom for Corina to come out with the test. He stopped midstep when the door unlocked and slowly opened. "Well?" He asked when she didn't say anything, staring with an unreadable expression at the test. She placed a hand to her face and held it out to him. Her face lighting up with a smile as his did as well, reading the "+" on the test. He jumped to her and hugged her warmly, she hugged him back and started laughing giddily. 

Corina was pregnant. 

She and Alain had scheduled an appointment with an obstetrician in Hoenn known for being commonly used by celebrities, or other rich people who wanted to keep their appointments on the down low. They were walking into the office, when another couple was entering the office at the same time. Both couples stopped directly in their tracks when they recognized each other. Corina was shocked to see Steven and his wife, Zayla, entering the same doctor's office. "Corina?" Steven spoke up. "Steven?" 

"Are you...going in here?" He opened the door. "I...am. Are you?" 

"I am." 

It was quiet a moment as they stood there. Hesitantly, Corina and Alain entered the office first to check in at the desk. 

Normally, Corina would be hostile towards Steven, but she was more surprised than anything to see him and Zayla at the same doctor's office. They waited in silence in the waiting room, the atmosphere uncomfortable as the four of them kept glancing at each other from opposite ends of the room. "Corina and Alain?" 

"Yes?" 

"The doctor will see you now." A nurse smiled warmly and led them to an examination room. 

They were all settled in and finally the doctor was showing them the ultrasound feed with Alain standing beside the chair, looking at the screen. They could hear the heartbeat, and see the smallest splotch of a baby. "Oh my goodness..." Corina mumbled, her voice breaking when she realized that was her baby. Alain's and her baby. He reached over and held her hand, a smile evident on his face, and his blue eyes soft. "That's our baby, Corina." He smiled at her and she leaned her head against his arm, feeling tears reaching her eyes. "That's our baby..." 

The doctor finished up when she told them what Corina should be avoiding while she was pregnant. She stepped out of the room, holding hands with Alain to see Steven standing there. "Hi Corina." 

"Steven." 

"I need to talk to you, please. I've been trying to contact you for so long." Maybe it was the incredible mood she was in from seeing her baby, or maybe it was the hormones affecting her, but she sighed. "You have five minutes. I'll meet you outside, Alain." He kissed her forehead, looked Steven over for a moment before leaving. "Devon has changed, Corina." Steven began. There was an almost desperation in his eyes as he spoke to her. "You may have noticed that Devon has been losing a bit of money lately, and that's because for the past couple years we've been transferring our energy sources. See, after you beat me at the gala a long time ago, I watched the...process, which I hadn't done in a long time. I had remembered what it was like, and with everything going on with you, I had to stop. It took a little while, but the scientists at Devon and the executives made deals with solar and oil companies so we wouldn't have to rely on that energy anymore." He took a breath, and seemed to calm down a little when he realized she was listening to him. "Corina. Devon is done with all that. And I just... I want our children to play together. Your child, and my son and daughter." 

Corina was silent for a moment, examining Steven's blue eyes for anything but the honesty and hope he was displaying. "So Zayla is pregnant with a daughter?" She finally spoke, and Steven smiled. "She is. We're going to tell Stephen when we get home." 

"How old is he now, three?" 

"Yes, he is. And you're pregnant?" 

"I am." 

"Congratulations to you and Alain then." 

"Thank you, Steven. Congratulations to you and Zayla." 

"Thank you." 

It was quiet for another moment. 

"Do you want to stop by a cafe? Maybe get something to drink?" Steven smiled softly. "I would love to." She smiled a bit as well. Something inside her had missed talking to Steven like this. Like she used to. 

Alain and Zayla went back to their respective abodes while Corina and Steven went to a cafe down the street to catch up, where they were for most of the afternoon, talking as though the several years of animosity had never happened.


End file.
